Hobbit Cafe in Houston

One of my favorite places to eat in Houston is a bit of a dive (my waiter pulled out the ketchup from the pocket of his gym shorts).
I love the theme. The outdoor deck feels like the Shire because it's built around trees.
And the food is healthy too.
So next time you're in Houston, dive down to the Hobbit Cafe.

Vague Blog

Russ and I have just returned from Orange, Texas. We went to visit the Hayes family. They are a family that have so much LOVE. They've come to visit us in San Marcos, and this is our second time going back East. But more on this trip later.

What I wanted to blog about was a conversation I had with M. Hayes. She is the matron of the family, and she is amazing. This woman has a presence about her. When she talks, you listen. Her children are amazingly obedient (but I know it's taken her years of work and practice). And you know she loves you. You can just feel it in everything she does or says.

We were talking on the couch before we left about life. She has had some challenges lately, in all aspects of life. Russ and I have also had some interesting turns lately. This is where this blog is going get vague. So no need to read on if you're not in the mood for the passive discussion.

M. Hayes said, "It's all about attitude. But be careful, because before you know it, you're attitude becomes reality." I had to laugh at this. There's been a lot on my mind lately. I made a comment to Russ a year or two ago, sort of off-handedly. Now, the inverse of that comment has happened. (Vague??? Well, I warned you...).

Since that talk, as we drove home, I've thought about that and pondered why the inverse happened instead of the exact statement I made. And I think I've figured out. I think if the actual statement had happened, the first part would have been done out of willingness. But the second part would have been done out of sense of duty. But because the inverse happened, both were done out of willingness.

Isn't that interesting? And isn't this vague? I do apologize.
I really wrote this so I would remember... I hope I remember through the vagueness.

Cluster Cuss of Thoughts

I've got a lot of thoughts here. Or, as the girl from Mean Girl's says, "I just have a lot of feelings!"

Either way, I have them. And normally I try to parse them out in this blog or tell them to Russ over our multiple daily conversations. But tonight Russ is far away. So this blog is going to hear it all.

*
Russ being gone is sort of my first point. He is in some remote part of West Texas. Where there is no cell phone reception. But a lot of pretty things. I'm a little jealous.

I forgot he couldn't get phone calls. So I tried to call him tonight and was dismayed to get his voicemail. Because of this, I got all down on myself about not being able to talk to him. I had a real "woe is me" attitude about it. That is, until I thought about all my friends who are military wives. I thought of one in-particular who has two small boys. I thought about how the last time she saw her husband was before Thanksgiving. I quit feeling the woes. And I said a small prayer for my friend.

#
I also listened to Fresh Air today as I drove to the grocery store. One of my Professors today jokingly told us to listen to NPR today (He was chiding a student for not knowing what was happening in Lybia).

I tuned in as I drove down the frontage rode and jumped into this story about the book I Think I Love You. It made me want to read leisurely again so much! I remembered when I Skyped with my Dad earlier today. My Dad's lawyer was in the room as well and said to me, "The Third Year of law school is the worst. You'll get so tired of reading cases."
Well Mr. Dad's Lawyer, I'm there. I want to read again for fun. I was about half way through Team of Rivals last I read. (Footnote: I have a pet peeve of people who hate fiction and only read historical. Really? That's all you read? Get an imagination. I just don't understand...)
So this book intrigued me because it seemed to be about somethings that I find fascinating:

• Teen Love vs. Real Love
• Women can do their Father's jobs but are still expected to do their Mother's responsibilities
• Fear of your children repeating your choices, or hope that they will
• Preempting another's judgment of you

Anyway, add that to my bucket list. But my thoughts didn't stop here. I thought of all the books I want to write. And I got excited. Mmmm.... I need to write those down....

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Another thought that has being weighing on my mind is my friends. Friends that are struggling right now. My dear, dear friends that are akin to my brothers and sisters. And I'm talking about multiple friends. Friends that don't know each other... some that do. There's one specifically that I think about when I'm about to drift off to sleep. I quickly get on my knees and plead that they will be guided, helped, and healed at this difficult time.

But really this whole thing just got me thinking about real friendship. While I am grateful to be there for my friends, I can't help but worry that I'm saying or doing the right things. Listening at the right times, giving advice at the right times. I definitely don't want to drive them away. But this seems sort of narcissistic. Here they are struggling and all I can do is think about myself. This bothered me a bit... but then I came to a conclusion that made me feel better. Perhaps for my own comfort. I think at the end of the day I want my friends to know that I care and that I love them. I hope the one impression I leave with people is that I love. I care. I do not judge and point, but that I love them.

Sort of a cheesy thought, but it holds true. But that's the truth.

!
Well lastly I think a lot about law school. I need to get back to it. It's about to get tough. And, you know, I feel like this always happens to me. I'm always doing something important, working on some major project, and I have a week where everything happens at once. That is next week. Every day next week I have serious and important things happening... expect for maybe Wednesday. So maybe on Wednesday I'll sleep 5 hours. But here's what it's shaping up to be:

• Monday: Opening Statement for Mini-Trial
• Tuesday: Advocacy Lecture, followed by pre-op appointment.
• Wednesday: Read, Sleep, Prepare, Repeat
• Thursday: Direct/Cross Examination for Mini-Trial
• Friday: Surgery

The good news is that the following week is Spring Break. And if I'm going to enjoy that, then I better get back to reading. Much love blog readers! I told you it was going to be a cluster!

Things that happened today at church that I loved:

• Being "waived at" from little kids while conducting the opening hymn.
• Singing the wrong words while singing the closing hymn (thy strength shall I be? Are you sure it's not thy comfort I be??)
• Sunday School teacher to an old man who just said some joke about Hilary Clinton becoming Mother Teresa, "Thanks for killing the Spirit..." (He said it so well, it was so out of the blue...)
• Relief Society: 

     "Sister Chow will teach our lesson... Hey where is she?" 

"Right here," I peeped from the back row. 

• Talking after church: 

"Rueben... I'd like to name a kid Rueben." 

"That's a sandwich."

"Mmm... that's a good sandwich."

Can I just say that I LOVE my ward? I do. I love the quirks and the weirdness. I love the familial feel and the friendship. I love that we have a giant bulletin board and this is the only thing on it:

That's right, a baby sock. Tacked up on the board. Like some baby will come along and say, "Oh yeah, I'm missing that. Thank you for pinning that up."

I love you, San Marcos Ward.

Weird Weather...

One of my bragging points about Texas is the mild winters. They are very beneficial to me because I have extremely bad skin. Like extremely bad skin. I have eczema. And the cold weather makes me break out in dry skin rashes.

In case you haven't heard, the past few days in Texas have been anything but mild winter days. We've had ice rain and snow. It was below freezing for 3 days straight. And what's worse, check this out:

Do you see that???? San Marcos was colder than Salt Lake City, and WAY colder than Calgary. Now this weather better not stick around. I mean, for the first time in Texas I broke out in dry skin rashes. It was awful too (in my armpits...ewww). 

So weather, you better shape up. I'm not living this far away from my family to avoid getting these dry skin rashes if they're just going to show up anyway. 

Plus I liked bragging about the weather.

Thoughts from last night...

I went to RS last night and had a great time. I've had a crappy week that extends to apt. problems, school problems, and car problems. So it was amazing to have some good ole fun. It got me thinking about things as I drove home from dropping off some friends from the activity. I thought about my little San Marcos Ward. The quirks, the struggles, and the strengths.

Then I remembered my mission. I remembered that one of the great things about serving a mission is that you get to see how many wards function and work... and how some don't. I remembered that one thing that makes a ward work is when everyone knows everyone. And what doesn't work is when people are clueless about each other. "Thomas? Who's that? I'm in X auxiliary organization so I don't know (or care) about them."

I took a moment to be sure that I try to know and care about the people I go to church with.

After this thought.... I thought about my little town. I thought about San Marcos. As I crossed over the San Marcos River, on the Old Bastrop Highway Bridge, all I could think is that "This is where my heart is."

Sorry to be such a cheese. But I really do love where I live. I love my life. I can't wait to be finished with law school and be back here for good.

Anyway. Just thoughts that I had last night. Things that I want to remember.

If you come and visit San Marcos....

I will greet you at the airport with a giant sign! (This is me patiently waiting for my mom to arrive. Airport Security only yelled at me one time ☺).

But you can also shop a TON at the San Marcos Outlet Store. Here we see my mother, who just bought about 5 sweaters, a purse, and some shirts for about $100 from Liz Claiborne. Yup, it was a STEAL!!!

So, what are you waiting for? Come and visit!

Baris- The Best Italian Restaurant I've Ever Been To...

Waco, TX. Most people have never been here. Or if they have, they think there's not much to it.

I would have thought the same thing, if I didn't live here for part of my life. Waco is actually very beautiful, very fun, and has a lot of GREAT restaurants.

The one that strikes my fancy recently is Bari's. Or Baris.

Now, I grew up on Italian food. My mom served her mission in Italy and so she often made variations of Italian food into casseroles (Turkey Tetrazzini was a favorite). Because of this... I don't like italian. 

I think I can count on one hand the times I've been to that celebrated restaurant "The Olive Garden".

And If my husband ever says, "How about Italian food?" I gag immediately.

Well folks, NO MORE! Bari's has brought me to LOVE Italian food. And I'll show you why:

Pink Sauce.... YUM!

I Heart News 8 Austin

My husband is a news reporter. Which you may think is "cool" or "interesting". But my gut reaction? "yuck". On our first date I gave him an earful. I told him that he was benefitting off of human suffering, he exploited people at the worst and hardest points in their life, and that his profession caused much of the 'fear-mongering' in the US.

Russ took these harsh comments with grace. And I was quickly humbled when our waitress congratulated him for being the National Television Student of the Year. Turns out Russ was really good at his job. And he didn't do the news the way most reporters do. He was very respectful of people.

Okay, okay, so there was one time we got in a HUGE fight because it was flooding in Cedar City and he started filming people bailing water out of their basements while I went and helped them bail water.

And on more than one of our dates he said something like, "There's a hostage situation, I have to cut this short". He does go and chase the news sometimes.

But the way news is reported is largely dictated by the news station. I was super nervous when he interviewed with News 8 Austin and I found out that they were a 24 hour news station. I thought for sure this meant that Russ would be leaving all hours of the night (and day) to go cover stories.

But I was wrong. News 8 is very community-oriented. Sure they report the ugly stuff. But there's a LOT of positive stories on this News Station.

For example, this story about this adorable Santa Claus who doesn't have grandchildren(s).

Or this story, which is part of a season series of music. I guess it makes sense given that Austin is the Live Music Capital of the World. We're got a lot of music happening!

Today as I watched after my run, the news anchor mentioned that the station will be showing Christmas performances all Christmas day! Um... yes, I will be tuning in. I love live music, and I love Christmas music!

Just had to write out my love for News 8 Austin. Oh, and as a sidenote, I love all the reporters on there too. I don't mean to sound like an old lady who think the people on tv are her family, but I like turning on the station and seeing who's working. "Jennifer Borget is working!" or "Marc is on today! I though he only worked weekends". Best of all, "Hey, that's my husband. He's doing his nervous smile."
Ooh, he's on right now.

Coming up on the blog:

• Christmas Eve traditions
• News Year's Resolution... so much promise, so much that didn't happen
• Momma Bear descends on Central Texas
• Baris- the Best Italian Restaurant I've ever been to

Kicking off Christmas in Fredericksburg, Texas

Over Thanksgiving weekend we went to the tree and pyramid lighting in a the cute (and Mormon historical) town of Fredericksburg, Texas. This little German town is adorable! If you're looking for a good place to go to for a honeymoon or a weekend getaway- GO TO FREDERICKSBURG!

Alright, we started off at the Salt Lick, one of the best BBQ restaurants in Texas. It was delicious:

Then we headed to the F-burg. We did a little window shopping, in which I purchased Ms. Twinkle Toes. An ornament made just for me because I love ballet and hippos:

 Find it here.

Next  we grabbed some of the FREE hot chocolate and cookies. Yes, the city gave us free food! We found our spot to see both the tree and the pyramid. Now the pyramid. I bet you're wondering what a pyramid has to do with Christmas. But, as the mayor told us, the Christmas pyramid is a German tradition. And this pyramid was built in Germany and shipped to this town, so it is authentic.

So we find out spot, and the mayor begins thanking everybody who helped. We are then told that we will be singing two Christmas songs in German. 

My response: AWESOME!

So we sing "O Tannebaum" and "Still Nacht". There is something wonderful about singing a Christmas song with complete strangers while staring at a dark Christmas pyramid. I loved it. I loved doing it with Russ and his family. It will be a great memory for the years to come!

Finally it was time. We counted down and the tree and pyramid were lit up!

So for the Wilde family it's official! Christmas Season 2010 has begun!

Gratitude-Day 5

Remember how I was going to list something I was grateful for, for ten days prior to thanksgiving? I was on day 4 last. There are 5 days until thanksgiving. For all those arts & crafts majors out there- that means I am one day short. So it is now the Ten Nine Days of Gratitude. But I'll name two today to make up for the lost day.

First:

I am thankful for my neighbors, and that I live in a neighborhood. I often lament urban sprawl and the suburbs. But I grew up in a really great neighborhood. A neighborhood that was safe for kids to run around in and a neighborhood where kids actually ran around. Every Sunday we would play 'night games'. On Christmas we had neighbors come in and out all day well-wishing and just having fun. I remember countless moments of calling our neighbors, the Dukes, for everything and anything (eggs, sugar, a pan, etc.).

When I grew up, got married, moved to Texas, and bought a house I thought, "that's it, I'll never have another neighborhood like that again!" Well, I was right... at first. I never saw my neighbors. I didn't know who they were. But at Christmas time we brought cookies around to all of our neighbors. And then last year we did it again. And last year, our neighbors reciprocated by bringing us cookies. We know our neighbors. We are building that love and relationship I remember from when I was a kid. Why, just yesterday I saw my next door neighbor using a hedge cutter and I asked him if we could borrow it. Without hesitation he said, "sure." It took me back to memories of my childhood neighborhood and made me happy.

A neighborhood is really what you make of it. I am thankful that we've made our neighborhood a place of love!

Second:


Now, this is a weird one. I am often a HUGE fan of the state of Texas. And let there be no doubt- I still am. But today I am also grateful for my Utah childhood. Yup, I said it. I found a reason to like Utah. I am grateful for the foundations I learned growing up there. For the opportunity to know what it's like to be part of the majority in the religious area. I am thankful for the great leaders and good examples I had who taught me to be better. I am thankful because now when things don't go perfectly and there are problems, I can look back to my childhood and separate the gospel for the culture- the personality from the principle. So when I get frustrated with how Relief Society is going, or I feel weird asking people to stand and sing in sacrament meeting, etc. I know that it's going to be okay! That my way of doing things is not the only way of doing things. And that is alright.

Until tomorrow....

The Fair

Just one of the many attractions.

This stick once held the original corn dog- that's right, the corn dog was invented at Texas and sold at the state fair.

Crazy detail at the Haunted House. That gargoyle's eyes move!

I went in the fun house, because I've never been before. It was....fun?

And the best part of the fair: THE FOOD! This is fried frito pie. VERY tasty.

Big Tex. CLASSIC!

A little Tai Chi performance in front of the Cotton Bowl (football stadium where UT/OU are playing). Yes, the fair is a well0rounded event.

No. 3 Burger in Texas

It appeared on the cover of Texas Monthly, like this:

After sitting on a hay bale in Fredricksburg (see previous post) we headed to the hills to Alamo Springs Cafe and ordered food from her:

We asked for the burger on the cover of the magazine and she brought us this:

This was my reaction:

That is my favorite picture.

But Russ wanted to take more pictures. So I pulled this face:

I downed this sweet burger in about 3 seconds. Texas Monthly was right- it is a great burger. I was so into it that this happened:

Some of the green chilies and cheese grease escaped to my skirt.

It was worth it.

E is for Eskander

These are the Eskanders.

They are an amazing family that we met through the missionaries and the restored Gospel.

THEY ARE AWESOME PEOPLE!!!

Have you ever found a friend that it was so easy to be friends with, you forgot what it was like to not be friends? Or you felt like you didn't have to 'try' to be friends? Well, that's the Eskanders (except I sometimes refer to them as the Eskabar's. That part is not easy).

Pictured above is a Lego Rock Band session, featuring hits like the Ghostbusters theme song.

This is how we spent the 4th of July.

San Marcos Fireworks = pretty awesome.

Thanks, Eskanders.

Thanks, Eskabars (whoever you are).

Thump. Thump. Thump.

I can't really explain my love of Central Texas. I just happened when Russ and I moved here, I fell in love with Central Texas. I love the rivers, the heat, the food, the style, and on and on and on.

One event that I adore to attend every year is the Luling Watermelon Thump.

Now Luling, is an oil town. It smells like oil. There are oil pumps all over the city. I could never stand this if I lived there. But it's delighting to me whenever I visit.

And about that thump... this is year 57 in celebrating the H2O fruit. People work on the Thump year round. It's a full time job. We watched the auction this year and the #1 melon went for $22,000. Total raised from auctioning of watermelons: $100K.

Seed spitting. So many people want to compete, that you only get to do it if you've won before or if your number is drawn. Russ and I were not drawn this year. : (

Lastly, the Thump has great food. Watermelon lemonade. Fried cheese (see above). Crawbish (aka "mud-bugs"). And my favorite, Corn on the Cobb, dipped in a jar of melted butter.

I love the Thump.

Blink and then you're back in Texas

Russ and I had a short visit to Utah for my little brother's wedding. It was a quick but fun trip! Great to see the family, and see my little brother married off to a great gal!

But it's nice to sleep in my own bed. No more flying trips for me the rest of the summer. My only other big traveling event is Girl's Camp!

So now I can finally relax, sit back, and enjoy my summer.

Our (Randy) Wilde Weekend

This weekend Randy became our first sibling to make the trip to visit us. We started the visit at the Shrine of Texas Liberty.

Next we river-walked.

The Trans-Siberian Orchestra was in town to do their show "Beethoven's Last Night".

They classically rocked with lasers.

After dinning on Kolaches, tubing the San Marcos River, and eating ourselves stupid on barbecue we headed to Austin. We hiked (climbed 101 steps) to the top of "Mount" Bonnell.

Next stop the Capitol. Sometimes birds sit on your head.

Randy and Chow were amazed by the dome.

Chow really wanted a Popsicle while we waited to watch the Bats.

BEST WORST MOVIE TRAILER from Best Worst Movie on Vimeo.

After a cupcake we topped off the night at the Alamo Drafthouse (the best place on earth to see a movie). Tonight's feature was "Best Worst Movie". I love documentaries and this is a great one. Check it out if and when it comes to your town.

It was a fast and furious 3 day visit. I left out a lot of details, mostly because I didn't take (or get copies of the) pictures. Good times and then some. Thanks for coming Randy.

Buzzard Billy's

Russ and I have a affinity for good food, going out to eat, and trying new places.

On Monday, we went to Buzzard Billy's. We sat on the dock on the Brazos River and had some good ole cajun cooking:

And

Delicious!

My City vs. Your City

I read this blog just about every day (addiction) and they posted a comparison of music listening to two different cities. I went to the site and did my own comparison... well I was hoping to compare Salt Lake City, but SLC was not an option. No offense, but yet another reason I love Austin over SLC. The music difference.

And a reason I LOVE Austin.

While visiting with my little brother in Calgary in December, I asked him if he knew who Spoon was. I was shocked to hear he had not! In Austin, Spoon is a household name. Spoon is like... is like... as big as Coldplay. Ok, maybe not Coldplay but I was sad to see that Spoon was not as popular as Austin leads me to believe.

And that is why Austin rocks. The music. I've taken tests before that say I learn best by listening. Or that by listening I can feel and understand things better. It is no wonder I love Austin.