25th Birthday Week

As I mentioned in my last post, October wasn't very good to us, but we're trying our best to stay positive and move forward with painful lessons learned.  I had to work the late afternoon/evening shift on my birthday, but Jason and I made plans to go out to lunch beforehand to celebrate.  I had been looking forward to a delicious birthday lunch at Roll On Sushi Diner, but when we got there we were informed they were closed in preparation for a large private event.  I was pretty disappointed, but they made up for it by giving us a couple of coupons for free rolls next time we make it out there.  Instead we ended up going to a place I'd been wanting to try after driving by it a few weeks ago - Clark's Oyster Bar.  Jason and I both love raw oysters, so this place was right up our alley.  We shared a few different selections of oysters from both the east and west coasts.  For our main entrees, I ordered the clam chowder and Jason chose the burger.  We were both happily full, but not before dessert - a cherry cake and a chocolate butterscotch cake with banana ice cream.  Mmm mmm mmm.  I'm sure we'll be back at some point in the future.

As for Halloween, I had to work again, but it was pretty fun getting to see everyone all dressed up headed to Sixth Street.  I'm glad I don't work the overnight shift because I'm sure last night was a challenge for those guys when all the guests returned inebriated.

Gifts-wise, I did pretty well.  Jason got me two of my favorite albums on vinyl - Tame Impala and FIDLAR.  My mom sent me a birthday "care package" with a really sweet card from her and one from my sister, lots of candy, Michael Kors Gold perfume I'd requested, a Target gift card from my mom's friend Randy and she even threw in a little beer flight glass for Jason, the "brew master", haha.  I felt really special opening everything she sent me.  When I got to work on my birthday, my coworkers surprised me with a birthday cake and a balloon!  It was the sweetest thing ever!  My boss even brought me some cupcakes from my favorite south Austin bakery, Sugar Mama's.

Tomorrow, my dad and my grandparents are coming up for a late birthday celebration lunch before I go to work.  I'm looking forward to spending some time with them!

Overall, it was a pretty decent birthday week.  I'm a lucky lady to have all of this love and support from friends and family!  Even the last minute Facebook birthday wishes meant a lot to me.  It's nice to know people are thinking of you, even if for a split second.

Jason's 30th

My sweet boyfriend, Jason, is officially 30 years old as of September 30!  I had decided a while back that I wanted to do something special for Jason in celebration of this milestone, and I've always wanted to throw a surprise party, so I figured this would be the perfect occasion.  I, obviously, couldn't blog about any of this before the big day so I'll walk you through the process a little bit.  I knew I wanted to invite as many people as possible - anyone and everyone that has made some kind of an impression on Jason.  I sent out emails and Facebook messages to everyone I knew Jason would want to celebrate with about a month and a half before the date I chose for the party, just to get an idea of how many people would seriously consider attending.  Once I had a rough estimate of the number of attendees, I began my search for a venue.  Originally, I was set on Max's Wine Dive, but their food & beverage minimum was out of my price range.  I checked with a few other restaurants and ended up happily settling with Red's Porch.  Jason and I had eaten there many times and really enjoy the food and drinks.  They have great specialty cocktails and a more than decent variety of local beers on tap.  It ended up being the perfect crowd pleaser, offering something for everyone.  

On the day of the party, I had wonderful assistance from my best friends Emily, Heather and Sarah and from my mom who arrived early in the afternoon to help me de-stress and get ready.  It turns out I was worrying and stressing for nothing because, even with storms rolling in all day and night, the party went on without a hitch, and Jason was absolutely shocked when he showed up and everyone yelled "SURPRISE!"  It was such a fun night, and I am so grateful to everyone that made the effort to come and help us celebrate this exciting birthday for Jason!

**All photographs courtesy of Emily's camera and Emily & Sarah's picture-taking expertise.

Lots of Work & A Little Play

I would say this past weekend consisted of a nice balance between work and play.  I worked from early morning into mid-afternoon Friday, Saturday and Sunday, but each of my days had a sweet finish.  On Friday, I came home to Jason and my aunt Kandace, who had dropped off my cousin Kody and some of his friends at a nearby state park for a camping trip.  Instead of driving all the way back to Houston that same day, to my delight, she decided to spend some quality time with us.  We chatted about this and that for a few hours (as per usual) before Jason served up a most delicious supper for the three of us - pulled pork sandwiches with baked beans and homemade potato salad.  After gorging ourselves and indulging in a little fresh-from-the-box Beer of the Month Club craft beer, aunt Kandace introduced us to the newest Netflix original series, Orange Is The New Black.  We watched the first two episodes and decided we'll have to continue watching, whenever we have time that is.  (Side note:  Both of our schedules are insane and all over the place right now.  We rarely see other for more than a few hours at a time these days, and it's the absolute worst feeling in the world.  We've been sitting on two Netflix DVDs for two weeks now, and we're falling behind on our weekly shows!)

femmeandfortune.com

On Saturday, we both got home from work around the same time and quickly got ready to drive up north to meet some friends for dinner in celebration of Corey's 29th birthday.  We were all first-timers at Foreign & Domestic, a little neighborhood restaurant in North Central Austin off of 53rd Street.  The food was pretty pricey, but overall very enjoyable.  We ordered a couple plates of crispy beef tongue which was actually really good, and I ordered corn soup with pickled shrimp, which was interestingly served cold.  That was my first time to try cold soup, and I'm still not sure that I liked it.  For my entree, I got braised goat over corn pudding and pickled cherries.  I wasn't a fan of the cherries, but the goat and corn was a brilliant combination.  Jason and I shared the rocky road sundae for dessert, which was pretty tasty.  My favorite part of the whole meal was probably the cocktail I ordered three times - The Cyclist, a lethal mixture of Session lager, preserved lemon and ginger beer.  SO delicious.

tastytouring.com

Yesterday,  Jason and I both got off work about an hour late and came home exhausted.  After sharing our unpleasant work stories, we brushed off the day and made another trip northward to see his parents and grandpa where we enjoyed some light conversation and a light dinner of Thundercloud Subs.  Despite our exhaustion, we decided to power through and see a movie at Alamo Drafthouse since it had been quite a while.  We chose Only God Forgives, the new Nicolas Winding Refn film starring Ryan Gosling as a quiet maniac.  It was a really pretty movie that showcased brilliant cinematography akin to that of Lynch and Kubrick, paired with a beautiful score that I would gladly sit and listen to all day long.  The story was pretty basic and the dialog wasn't much to be desired, but overall I found it entertaining, which is indeed the whole point of a film.

Forbes.com

A Week of Tricks & Treats

Fortune Teller Me

This past week was really wonderful.  I turned twenty-four on October 30 and got to celebrate with my love the day before by going out to the Duchman Family Winery in Driftwood, enjoying a delicious dinner at Jack Allen's Kitchen and having a few drinks with friends on Rainey Street.  On my actual birthday, Jason bought me some Sugar Mama's cupcakes and made one of my favorite meals - jagerschnitzel with German potato salad.

The previous weekend we were invited to our friends' halloween party so I dressed as a fortune teller and Jason as a juggalo (Insane Clown Posse follower).  We had to cut the night a bit short unfortunately because I had to be at work early the next morning, but it was still a good time.  On actual Halloween, we just had a relaxing night in watching Halloween I & II and Trick 'R Treat.  I bought some last-minute decorations for outside the door and on the window to welcome trick-or-treaters, but we only had one little group of kids.  I can't wait until we live in a neighborhood that's more welcoming and open for trick-or-treaters.  I have such fond memories of the tradition from when I was young.  I would love to live in a small town that really celebrates Halloween like Katie and Danielle.

This weekend we had the pleasure of getting to attend another of Austin's renowned music festivals, Fun Fun Fun Fest.  On Friday I got to see Against Me! for the second time, southern rap artist Bun B and Run DMC.  Yesterday I saw Why?, Paul Banks, Wavves and Girl Talk.  I decided not to go today because I can only handle so much back-and-forth between work and festival, and it turned out to be a good decision because I'm feeling pretty under the weather currently.  A scratchy, sore throat and the chills make for a not-so-fun evening :(

A fortune teller and a juggalo

Some movies I got for my bday

Outdoor showing of Hocus Pocus at our apt complex

On the way to Duchman Family Winery

Duchman Family Winery in Driftwood, TX

Birthday Breakfast

Bday Gifts from Jason

Anxiously waiting on Halloween night

Fun Fun Fun Fest

Bun B

Day Two of FFF Fest

Paul Banks

Girl Talk