Kayak Attack

Earlier this week Russ and I took an afternoon to kayak 5 miles down the San Marcos River- From Sewell Park to Old Bastrop Highway. I love this river! I love the serenity of being on this river. I can't wait to do it again! Here are the highlights:

• I saw a snake. First one I've seen on the river. I was sort of scared, but it was just sunbathing and didn't really move. So I didn't freak out... to bad.
• Russ only tipped once. But it was a legit tip- he was going about 1,000 mph around a bend in the river and smacked into the embankment. It was a understandable flip. (PS: I have yet to flip my kayak on the river...)
• Mostly it was just a nice peaceful ride with my sweetheart.

Now here are the pictures (Just to satisfy C's policy of not reading any blogpost unless there's pictures involved):

The Kayaks in the Honda Fit headed to the river

Russ and I ready to take off!

And there we go!

This is what the river looks like- so relaxing

Trattoria Lisina

Russell is a master of Groupons. He finds the best deals and then takes me to these fancy restaurants that are delicious. Before we saw the Arcade Fire, we used a Groupon and we went to Trattoria Lisina.

This restaurant is owned by Damian Mandola, who co-founded the Carrabba's restaurant chain. Mr. Mandola has a few shops in Austin as well. Trattoria Lisina is in Driftwood, Texas- sort of by the Salt Lick. The food at Trattoria Lisina is A-MAZING! I can still taste the white truffle oil from my risotto. Check it out:

My Risotto.
I forgot to take a picture of it before I delved into it, and so this is the picture of it after I was stuffed.
So Good.
Can I go back right now please?

This is the only picture I got of Russ's dish. He got the linguine and it was also perfect.
He ordered some polenta, pictured on the side.

 Sadly, we were too full for dessert. But if we had space, we would've had some gelato and biscotti. Instead, we headed to the Backyard, the concert venue for Arcade Fire. Much to our joy, the venue offered trailer food including food from Mandola's! This is the food trailer owned by none other than Damian Mandola! So we had some dessert after all from Mr. Mandola! Although they didn't have gelato, so we had a cannolis (cannolies?) instead:

Here are a few more photos of the grounds around Trattoria Lisina. If I shoot bridals,  I'm choosing this place as the shoot venue. So beautiful. I felt like I was in a foreign country.

Her Majesty, The Decemberists

On Saturday night Russ and I went to the Decemberists concert at Stubbs. Who are the Decemberists, you ask? Well, see this post. They're a band that I've adored for quite some time.

When I was on my LDS mission, in Kahalu'u, I found a BYU-Hawaii newspaper while cleaning out a drawer full of Ensign magazines. One of the articles caught my eye. The article was about this band called "The Decemberists" and their recent concert at BYU-Hawaii. I distinctly remember feeling that when I got home from my mission that I would love this band.

Well, I returned from Hawaii and forgot those feelings. Until about 2008. It was around this time I stumbled upon The Decemberists and fell in love with their music.

So this year, for my birthday, Russ bought me tickets to their show! Here are the highlights:

• We got there before the opening band and staked out our position (about 15 ft. from the stage). After a few minutes I utilized the port-a-potties so I wouldn't have to go in the show.

• We played Words With Friends through the opening band and checked Facebook. The opening band, "Our Lives", was just okay. They had a girl in the band playing the violin and the cello but you couldn't hear it. I was sort of disappointed.

• After a 40-ish minute break in-between sets (I think we were about to mutiny due to the delay past 9 p.m.) the Decemberists made their entrance. They talk a lot about Oregon in the opening schpeal and it was here that I learned that Austin and Portland have some sort of rivalry. That made me a little sad. Because Austin is the BEST!

• They played a LOT of songs from 'The King Is Dead', their  new album. Which is fine. 

• But FINALLY! They played Crane Wife 1-2-3. I'm not ashamed to say that I cried through the Crane Wife 1 and 2. I should probably say that I bawled. Because I did. Those two songs just break my heart! And I must say, this is the first time that I have cried that much at a concert. But I couldn't help it. It was magical.

• After the Crane Wife songs, they played the Rake song. The crowd went from melancholy to fierce air punching. It was quite enjoyable. 

• From there they played a lot of other good songs that we enjoyed. We had to take a break because I grew tired of standing so we went to get a Dr. Pepper. We had to go inside to get a Dr. Pepper, where I discovered there's a BATHROOM accessible to concert goers. Word to the wise for future Stubbs concert goers, don't use the port-a-pottie! There's a inside bathroom available.

• After watching a drunk man completely face plant into the concrete and Russ waiving a security guard over to help him, drinking down our Dr. Pepper's, and watching the crowd perform jigs akin to riverdance, the Decemberists left the stage. For the first time.
• The Decemberists came back out to play 'Eli, the Barrow Boy' (which always reminds me of my nephew Elliott) and 'The Mariner's Revenge Song' (which resulted in more spontaneous jig-dancing from all concert attendees. 

• The Decemberists came back out again and played June Hymn. 

I don't think I stopped smiling the whole night. It was so fantastic. We skipped back to our car with glee in our hearts. Thank you, Decemberists. Thank you, Russ.

Our failed attempt at a photo before the show

The Decemberists are coming back to Stubb's in August. Want to go?

Texas Cheese Factory & Other Food

I had a coupon for $5 off a $10 purchase at the Texas Cheese Factory. When Russ and I tried to go to the recently opened, and controversially name, Fat Ho Burger and found a line out the door, we decided to try the Texas Cheese Factory in Lorena, Texas. 

Here's what I think: This place is a must-try. The owner, who waited on us, had just come back from France. But don't let that make you think he's got a chip on his shoulder. Rather, he was the epitome of Southern Hospitality. The pricing was a steal! 1/2 a pound of gourmet cheese for $4?!? Crazy! Here's a bit of a breakdown:

• Cheese plate (1/2 pound of cheese)
• Mac & Cheese
• Club Sandwich
• 2 Dr. Pepper's
• ______________________

          $19.00 (this is before the coupon)

You can't beat good price gourmet. Here's what we had:

Jalepeno Gru yere

Bleu Cheese

Asiago

(not pictured because we ate it too fast: Mozzarella)

AMAZING Club Sandwich with Bocaya Cheese

4 Cheese Macaroni

More food thoughts to come. If you find yourself in the area of Lorena, go to the Texas Cheese Factory.

Night Date With Russell

Last Saturday Russ and I had a date night. With the holidays and family visiting, this was our night to have some one on one conversations and adventures.

Our adventures started off by going to a photography exhibit that I heard about on Facebook. Now... that should have clued us in on what we were going to. Because it was amateur night in Dixie.

The invite said the even started at 6 pm. We showed up at 6:30 and they were still setting up- still hanging photos. When we walked in they looked surprised. They told us that people don't normally show up until 8:30. "Well," I told them, "the invite said it started at 6." They grumbled and said we could look around. The photography was... less than impressive. Photographs of burned mattresses and people standing aimlessly by trees. But I'm glad we at least tried something new!

So after that we decided to go grab some grub. Seems like we had some disagreement about where to go. But we finally ended trying a new Thai place in town. I can't remember the exact name of it, but it was something like "Prik Amp Tak". It was mighty tasty, fair-priced, and had great dècor! Check it out:

This place is great for people watching as well. While we were dining we witnessed:

• Football player and his elderly girlfriend (they were quite friendly).
• Young hipsters talking about how the world is so imperfect.
• A couple dressed all in white- white turtlenecks in fact. They were being photographed by another patron. It was sort of weird. We thought it might be for a really low-budget album cover of a Christmas album.
• Middle-aged people in gym clothes? They were the most confusing to look at. And they looked so unhappy.

After that date night progressed into old married people errands. Partly because there was nothing else to do- all the credit card machines were down because a fiberoptic cable had been cut. So the outlet malls had to close early and no one was taking debit. So we ran some errands and went home. I redecorated the Christmas tree and Russ relaxed (he had been at work since 4 am so he was sleepy).

It was a good date night, photo fail and all!

Day Date With Russell

So Russ and I have been pretty busy this last month and needed to rekindle our relationship. SO we dated each other for a whole day. This is how it went:

Started off at the temple. But we didn't take a picture. So enjoy this one:

Then we went to Pirahna Killer Sushi to use a Group-on for Lunch

Then to the Cronkite Exhibit at the LBJ Museum

I really enjoyed the Museum. I love being married to a news junkie... not to mention a foodie:

This is me at Holy Cacao, which has been featured on the Food Network.

This is me eating the peanut butter, dipped in chocolate cake ball. It was delicious.

Then to top it off, we went to cheese fest at Central market. Had the best parm ever! After this we went and got our halloween costumes together (pictures forthcoming when Halloween is here).

Then it was off to bed! Great date to fall in love all over again!

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A quick shout-out!

My friend José competed in the Texas Administrative Law Moot Court Competition. He took 1st place, and I am so proud! Congrats to José.