Tuesday, October 30, 2012

Halloween 2012

We have been intentionally laying low the up until last weekend. This is really the month we try to take it easy as much as possible because once November hits we are crazy busy with traveling and family visits.  That being said, we had not only one but two parties this past weekend. We aren't that popular usually, lol . But it was really nice to catch up with the Tuleys and dance into the night at the house monster bash : )



Lets start with the weekend before...
Brunch at Red's Porch for the LSU game

View from brunch of the green belt

Ricky and I then headed over to the watch bar for the FSU vs. UM game

everyone at the watch bar

a panoramic view of the watch bar via Ricky's new iphone

Sunday dinner at one of the best trailers in the city

Our delicious meal from East Side Kings- my favorite is the brussels sprouts salad : )


This past weekend ...


This past Saturday I grabbed Chloe's BFF Nola for a hike with Ricky & I before all the Halloween Festivities

picture of the trail

Ricky hanging out on what use to be part of a waterfall,but is now a dry hole like most of the creek bed that ran through the green belt

I climbed this tree after a bet from Ricky; I didn't get very far but won the bet lol

For Halloween I was Flo the progressive lady, and I have to admit I think I pulled it off pretty well. It had to be the easiest costume

Ricky and Jimi were Tubbs and Crocket from Miami Vice

One of the Tuley's neighbors had this parked outside - it was just too perfect not to pass up
The hostess of the night- Heather as a ghostly princess  ( on the right) and the cutest new mom-to-be Ann as a lobster

This isn't my picture but there was no way I couldn't post a picture of John's awesome costume. Every year it is so intricate and great! He and Heather threw a great party with eerie fog through out the house, frozen hands in the punch, and awesome decorations everywhere.

Our next stop was to the Monster Bash over at Ry and Ryan's house
Roommates and co-host Ry and Ryan aka Edward scissor hands and shot President JFK

Love these costumes by Morgan and her friend in town for the weekend- Mexican day of the dead dolls


Uncle Ed from King Pin
This by far was the most creative costume of the night to me : ) If you have read the book then the words on Megan's back will definitely make you crack up, lol .
There were so many great costumes that night including a garden gnome, roller derby girls, and the Spartan Cheerleaders (with their own set of cheers, of course). Some  were on their way out as we were coming in so I wasn't able to get pictures of them : (
But we ended up dancing the night away with everyone who stuck around. It was a lot of fun, and I'm already working on next year's costume! Have a great week- Luv Di

Wednesday, October 17, 2012

First Austin City Limits experience

It only took me 4 1/2 years of living in Austin to finally get my butt to the Austin City Limits festival downtown, but I finally did it this year!!!  Every year I have some kind of lame excuse as to why  I'm not going to go, but with friends ( Suzie and Chris) flying in just for the festival- I really had absolutely no reason not to go. In the past I've walked the trail along the venue and posted up with a little picnic and listened to the concerts outside the fence, but now that I've actually been in the festival I'm not sure if that will do it anymore ; )

The whole festival was tons of fun!! My only regret is that it is so over packed (roughly around 175,000 people a day) I didn't get to hang out with as many friends as I had originally hoped : ( 

But I did get to share this experience with Ricky and I wouldn't have traded that for the world  

This is only my personal opinion but the best performances of the weekend were:
Florence +The Machine
Averitt Brothers
The Lumineers
The Roots 
The Black Keys
The Red Hot Chilli Peppers
Jack White 
 


The weekend in a nutshell
It's hard to tell but this was a picture of the crowds on their way down to festival on Friday night. I had to work during the day on Friday so I took the bus from our house and met Ricky down there. It was perfect $1.00 and dropped me off two blocks away -beats the $30 parking that I passed on my way over, lol

The entrance to festival on Friday

The weather was perfect during the first show I caught- Florence + The Machine

The main stage at the festival

This is the only picture I took with friends really in it, and it was only a fraction of everyone who was there. I tend to shy away from the camera when I've had a few drinks,  I'm sweaty, and muddy. Lol but that is just me ; )

a blurry picture of Florence + The Machine

The Black Keys on Friday night

This was the weather on Saturday

And this is how I felt about the weather on Saturday. If you know me I don't do "getting wet" very well, but I think I handled it better than Ricky would have guessed, ha ha

Jack White on Saturday Night

The Lumineers on Sunday

Beautiful view of downtown landscape from the venue

The Red Hot Chilli Peppers on Sunday



Another pic of red hot Chilli Peppers

a panoramic view Ricky's photo

 
 Below are a few videos of some the performances we saw






On Sunday there wasn't a cloud in the sky so Ricky and I drove over to our friend Anna's house with our bikes in town and rode them down the festival. It was really nice and was a great start to the last day of festivities . The only thing was we rode down hill for most of the ride- which meant we had to ride uphill on the way back. It wasn't as bad as I had originally thought we walked only here and there if it was just too steep for my cruiser. All in all, again it was a fabulous weekend : ) 
Now my body and wallet are slowly healing, ha ha 
I have a feeling this next weekend is going to be very low key- have a great week! Love Di

Monday, October 8, 2012

Wonderful laziness

I did absolutely nothing this weekend, and I loved every second of it : ) 
Ricky headed out of town on Friday to visit his family in Miami, and since I wasn't able to take off work I hung out around home. Don't get me wrong I LOVE spending time with my husband, as cliche as it may sound, he is my absolute best friend . But that doesn't mean I don't enjoy a very rare "me time" weekend either, lol.  I caught up on the TV shows he hates to watch, painted my nails, did some at home facials. To sum it up- it was lovely (except for our embarrassing FSU loss). We had great crisp fall weather so I was also able to crouch by the fire and dig into a new book. I have to admit though I'm ready for Ricky to come on Tuesday though, ha ha. 
 Austin City Limits Music Festival is this weekend, can't wait!!! 

I was sooo comfy with the fire yesterday afternoon ( the high was in the 50's!) . P.S. the coffee table in the middle was an awesome score at goodwill yesterday. I bought it with every intention of going to sand it down and paint it, but since this was late Sunday afternoon I figured I would clean it for now and see how it looks before I get into the hassle. Well I noticed on the bottom that it had an authentication certificate for cherry wood so I pulled out the wood shine cleaner. This table is a beautiful solid cheery wood table in almost perfect condition. I googled it to find out the comparison price online they were roughly around $300 dollars and considered antique- my steal $9.99, wahoo!!! Now with the money I saved I'm going to look for a rug : )

I'm hesitant to post this up her because she is NOT allowed on the couch, but of course we can't regulate it when we aren't home.( plus if Ricky see's this he will not be happy)  I found her like this on Sunday afternoon, and just couldn't muster myself to kick her off. I just love her!!

Have a great week Luv Di

Monday, October 1, 2012

Just another weekend in the books : )

This past weekend we had planned on getting in a little fall camping, but the rain dictated other wise. So instead on Friday I snuggled up with my favorite guy and fur ball, and we caught up on some "Breaking Bad"  episodes with Netflix ( Ricky and I are really getting into this series-we highly recommend it if you are looking for something new to watch!)

On Saturday we headed out to the FSU vs USF watch party down at Star Bar. After our great win : )  we  made our way out to a few other bars to watch the rest of  college football's late night games. It was one of those fun, kinda random but nothing crazy kinda nights. We meet a few news friends, and had a great time with some oldies but goodies.
Our late night snack stop on Saturday. It is one of Ricky's favorite food trailers downtown, and since they moved up north for lunch this is pretty much the only time that he can get it now
He was really excited,lol ( please excuse the blurriness of this photo but this was how I was seeing everything at this point, lol. It was best that I put some food in my belly ; )
 On Sunday we made our way to the Pecan Street Festival downtown for a few hours and met up with our friends Sam and Becca who had already made their way down. The Pecan Street Festival is a big art festival the city puts on twice a year that they make open to the public. They section off a large part of downtown and tons of local vendors set up shop along with local musicals who have small stages set up in various areas.

Some east side street art I found on our way to the festival

Pecan Street Festival view 1

Pecan Street Festival view 2

Ricky and I  really had no intention of eating at the festival because nothing looked that great. It was all pizza and fried food and really greasy fair food. But then we stumbled on this little Venezuelan stand. They were making homemade grilled arepas with cheese and meat. We knew we needed a snack before dinner and these were perfect and sooooo good!

One of the many street performers we passed along the way

another one of the cool street performers
 Lastly, we met up with more friends ( Paige and Griffin) and tried out one of the restaurants featured during Restaurant Week. I'll be honest there were a few things at this place I was not sure about eating like- beef cheek and cow bone marrow. I was brave enough to try them, but I don't think they will be on my weekly meal plan anytime soon ; )


Where we went for dinner to experience restaurant week, it was delicious

I just had to take a picture of this drink when it came out. The presentation was great, and it tasted delicious ( or so Becca told me- it was her drink,lol)


Have a good week- Luv Di