Lunch at South Congress Cafe in our new neighborhood!

We went to pick up the keys to our new apartment! How exciting! We got our own place, even just for two months! We decided we wanted to try living near downtown so we can attend events to mingle and network easier. And just to experience the life of being in this area since once we get jobs and settle down, we'll probably be in the suburb, family friend areas. So we found a sublet with two months left in the lease so we won't be tied-down for longer than that in the SoCo area. This is the Melrose of Austin. Very cute shops and restaurants, artsy and eclectic! Time Warner was coming by to set up our internet for us at the apartment so we got there early enough to meet with them, get our internet connected then went to South Congress Cafe to meet our friend, Karen for lunch. She had just gotten back from a long trip to China so we had lots to catch up on. She lives very close to our new apartment which is awesome since we try to hang out with Karen alot. The food was wonderful and we are already in love with our new area and neighborhood. We also have other friends that live near by which we'll be able to see more often as well. Very exciting! Now we'll really feel like we moved to Austin and not just on an extended vacation having our own place! We spent the rest of the day cleaning and scrubbing the new apartment from top to bottom!

Turkey Day!!!

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Marina told the girls to get dressed cute so Haley and Allie got all dolled up. Haley dressed Allie and did her hair with this cute bow! :) We spent the day getting ready, etc. and had a wonderful dinner with Lucia, Tony & Rosanna coming over to join us. Lots and lots of yummy food! We finished the night by watching a movie in the theatre room. I think I'm still full!

Twilight!!!

I finally got a chance to go watch the much anticipated "Twilight". I went with Marina, Emily and her friend, Abby. This was Marina & Emily's second showing of this movie. I usually like to read the books AFTER the movie since the books are ALWAYS better than the movie and I didn't want the movie to get ruined for me having read the book first but I read this book before I found out that they were making in into a movie... bummer... I spent the whole time watching the movie comparing to the book. It was hard to watch the movie, just for the movie. Also, I had a hard time imagining how a person who had NOT yet read the book understand the storyline by just watching the movie. Regardless, I want to watch the movie again so I can try to watch it without comparing and just watch it to enjoy it. I'm in love with the book too much to disregard the movie that quickly so I'll still watch it again and again! My niece Emily LOVED the movie even if she also was bothered by the fact that they switched the order of things as happened in the book and all of the details were skewed. Still a fan though! She'll watch it again and again as well! We are also waiting for the sequels!!!

After the movie, I helped Marina marinate the turkey and get it ready for the big "eating" day tomorrow!!!

E.A.S.T. Austin Art Studio Tour

E.A.S.T. Austin Studio Tour gives everyone the opportunity to view the works of over 200 artists at 150 studios and galleries during this one weekend. It's held once a year so we wanted to make sure and check out as many as artists as possible. We printed out the map of the studios/galleries and ran from one to another and then another. We saw some really great artists and some really cool studios and galleries. Some of the studios were these artists' homes so it was nice of them to open their homes for everyone to share their art with. We saw some really great areas and found some hidden treasures, beautiful homes and grounds that you'd never expect. What a wonderful experience!

Dinner w/Robin & Alex - Korean Style...

We told Robin and Alex about the new Korean BBQ restaurant due to open on the 15th of this month so we decided to go check it out. Unfortunately, the restaurant has not yet opened so we ended up going to Korea House which is another favorite of ours and also Robin's. Yummmmmy! We had fun eating and visiting with each other! It's so great having Robin near by... and Alex is such a sweetheart too!!!

Opal Divines

IGDA - International Gaming Developers Association was having their monthly happy hour event at Opal Divines. Rob and I were invited to this event through a guy he met recently in the gaming industry so we decided to go to meet some new people and mingle, network, etc. We met and talked to a few of the guys there who were all very nice and welcoming. After having been there for a few minutes, I realized one of the guys looked familiar. I told Rob of my suspicions of this one guy looking very familiar and figured out where we knew him from. He and his wife were selling their house and Rob and I had been to his open house a while back! He and his wife are both in the gaming industry, his wife being on the recruiting side of the business. His wife was traveling at that time so we only met Mike but had heard about his wife, Robin. Rob introduced himself and had connected with her on LinkedIn but had not yet met in person. We immediately went and talked to Mike and he remembered us as well from being at his open house! What a small world. We told Mike about how Rob and connected to Robin on LinkedIn, etc. and he told us that Robin was there at the happy hour as well. We were able to meet Robin in person. Rob also met another woman, Amy, in HR, who immediately warmed up to Rob and was willing to help him. I also met and talked to a guy who had a lot of information for me. He works for a company that I had applied to and told me about how they were moving everyone to Seattle. No wonder they never called me back about my application! What a successful outing that was! We met some wonderful people, reconnected with others we've previously met, and made some new connections and friends...

Long lost friend...

It's amazing with technology these days and on-line social networking sites such as Facebook. Thanks for Facebook, Myspace, LinkedIn, etc. I've gotten in touch with so many friends from my past... recently with the 20 year high school reunion, I've connected with so many friends from high school on facebook. I thought it was a big deal when I first connected with my friends from my Pasadena days, people I hung out with during my early 20's, now friends from high school... and now even further back, friends from Junior High School!!! My very good friend Robin from Junior High School and I recently connected on Facebook and found out that she lives in Austin, TX as well!!! What a HUGE surprise and such delightful news!!! To have a friend, a long lost friend, a friend with history... in the same city, my new city, my new home! So exciting! We set up dinner plans so she and I can see each other again after all these years... and so she can meet Rob... and I can meet her fiance, Alex... and her two boys, Austin & Jet! It was great seeing her and meeting the boys in her life, seeing her beautiful home and catching up... talking about stories from the old days...

80's Pimp-n-Ho Party!!!

Me and the birthday girl, Marina...

Me and my little bro, the Pimp Daddy J...
Just kidding... I didn't scoop out the cake! Yet!!!

Sixteen Candles Cake!!!

Me and my main squeeze, Daddy Robbie...

For Marina and her friends, Lucia & Mafel's November birthdays, they decided to have a joint birthday party! It's a 80's theme and also a Pimp-n-Ho theme! You can dress up as whichever theme you want with the mission and goal to have fun!!! Marina and I had fun getting ready at the house, helping Justin & Rob get their costumes together and went to the community center early enough to help them decorate and get ready for the party! It was a fun-filled night of yummy snacks and non-stop dancing! Rob and I got Marina a "Sixteen Candles" birthday card on Monday for her actual birthday with the characters Samantha & Jake Ryan on the cover and signed it from Jake Ryan. She loved the card so much that she decided to get a cake made with the same image. The cake turned out awesome! The three girls had a fun birthday party! Fun was had by ALL!!! Boy, my feel were so tired at the end of the night from dancing non-stop all night! We helped clean up after the party and dragged our butts home into bed! Fun, fun!!!

Happy Birthday Marina!!!

Ice Cream cake with a big Snicker's Bar in the center

Happy family! Happy Birthday!

Me, Rob and the girls hit ourselves in the theatre room to sign and draw on the huge birthday card for Marina. We even signed it for their family dog, Rover, with his paw prints. We surprised her (yeah right) with the card and yummy ice cream cake! Then as one of our gifts, we watched the girls while Justin took her out to a fancy dinner date!


Happy Birthday Marina!!!

Sherlock's Pub

After the yummy dinner with James & Kimiko at Shady Grove, Rob and I stopped at Half Priced Bookstore to browse and also to kill some time before meeting up with Jessica and her out-of-towner friend at Sherlock's Pub. LC Rocks performed at Sherlock's. They are a 80's cover band playing all of the rock favorites such as Journey, Van Halen, Ratt, etc. Basically all of the hair bands from the 80's. They were really good and was fun to watch.

James & Kimiko - Shady Grove

Rob and I went back to Shady Grove to meet James and his girlfriend Kimiko. James and I have a mutual friend, Alfredo, who introduced us as we now have Austin in common as our home. It was fun meeting James & Kimiko and trying one of Shady Grove's favorites, Frito Pie at James' suggestion. It's a bag of Frito Lay chips topped with chili, cheese & jalapenos. Basically nachos using fritos instead of the regular nacho chips. Yummmmmmm! It was so good!

First Thursday

Austin's South Congress (SoCo) area which is like a smaller version of Melrose with its fun shops and restaurants has a thing called First Thursday. It's the first thursday of each month where Austin's local vendors come out and take over the parking lots of various stores and restaurants to set up tents, tables, etc. to sell their handmade goodies such as jewelry, apparel, art, etc. Rob and I went to check it out. We also visited a vendor friend of ours, Valerie Eff of E Street Jewelry.

Opposite Day!!!

Opposite Day, a local band in Austin, performed at Jovita's. This is the day they decided to propose to Madonna by singing their versions of the entire album of the Immaculate Collection. They put a fun twist on the songs. We even got a free cd of the songs to remember this performance. It was a cool spot and we had fun with our friend, Karen watching the show and talking to Sam, the singer/guitarist of the band.

Tea Tastings!!!

Our friends at Zhi Tea http://www.zhitea.com/ are moderators of a Tea Tasting Group so we went to the Meetup. We had some yummy White Tea with Blueberries, Plum Oolong, Darjeeling and Green Tea with Jasmine... I hope I got that all correct but they were all yummy!!! Met and talked to some really nice people and ate Candice's yummy scones!

Boggy Creek Farm

We went to check out Boggy Creek Farm. They have market days on Wednesdays and Saturday mornings where you can get fresh vegetables, eggs (they go really fast), cheese, etc. Our friends, Zhi Tea, also has a table set up there on market days so we stopped and talked to him for a bit. Then we walked around the farm taking a bit of a tour. We stopped in front of the chickens and spoke to one of the ladies that takes care of them. She told us all lots of wonderful and fun stories about them; pointed out different kinds and where they came from; the sad stories of the little chicks that were taken, killed or wounded. It was very educational and enjoyable! So much fun!