Checking In

To all my friends, family and loyal blog-followers, I'm sorry that I've been neglectful of regularly posting blog updates.

My travel has slowed down a bit and I'm in town for a full month! July is going to be great and while summer is my least favorite time in Austin, I'm going to embrace it - Barton Springs, swimming, beer drinking and early morning walks will get me through the heat.

This weekend I was in Alabama for my friend Haley's wedding. The wedding was amazing and she looked beautiful. I had tons of fun with my friends and there are some amazing stories and pictures to share but I don't think my interpretation of the adventures will do the weekend justice. Plus, they won't be very funny to anyone who may not have been there, or who has never been to Alabama. Needless to say, Alabama was much prettier than I thought but did live up to my food expectations - I don't think I had one vegetable (unless you count fried sweet potatoes) since getting there on Friday.

I did get some more insight into my neighbor's frisky middle finger activity. Apparently, he hits the bottle a little bit too much sometimes. Sadly, this makes me feel better for me - that I didn't do something to upset him. It makes me sad for him, but what can you do? I mean even I drink to get through this heat.....

I got back in town tonight and picked up Buster and Murphy (Haley's dog who I'm watching for some of her honeymoon). They are beyond tired after spending four days at the boarders and have spent most of the afternoon sleeping - it's quite amazing. But they are such best friends and follow each other around so much, that I had to share this picture of them looking out my front window, together. They are working hard to keep me safe from all the random noises they hear outside.

In conclusion, the only exciting thing that's happened around my house was last week I had to hire a tree trimmer to cut down some large limbs that had cracked off my tree and fallen into a neighbor's yard. They were pretty big branches and it's unclear what caused them to fall but luckily they didn't hurt anyone or anything except my check book. Geez, cutting down branches is pricey! So the life of a homeowner continues to be interesting. And hopefully I'll have more to share with you soon.

Ah, East Austin....

Tonight I got home from work and let Buster out, fed him, played for a bit and then hit the road again to go to the grocery store.

As I'm pulling out of my driveway and safely looking back to the right toward the street behind me, I see my neighbor two doors up kneeling in his front driveway.

I craned my neck a bit to see what he was doing. Apparently he wasn't happy with that.

Suddenly he stands up and gives me the finger. Emphatically. Over and over again.

I decided not to get out of my car and ask why, but as I drove away, I could see him flipping me off in my rear view mirror.

Why? I have no idea. None. Zip. Zilch. Zero.

I have never talked to him. Never interacted with him. And, that I know of, never offended him.

But I also never drive up that part of the street so who knows what's going on with him.

Once I got over the shock I was cracking up in my car. Welcome to the diversity of east Austin.

Still no major housing updates although I met with my colleague's husband this past weekend to get a quote for my patio build out. As the summer gets hotter and hotter, I'm mostly avoiding being outside, but I am pleasantly surprised with how much shade my yard and house get and how green my grass still is. This is virtually unheard of in Austin. It makes for higher lawn maintenance bills but it looks darn good. I even have some flowers blooming that were planted last year before I moved in. So, despite my lack of attention to my yard (or knowledge for that matter) it's looking pretty.

I'm happy that I'll be able to enjoy it for a few weeks. Sadly, I had to cancel my upcoming trip to DC. I was planning to see friends and family but work has been so hectic lately and I've been traveling so much that I made the decision to cancel my trip. I am bummed not to see people I love but it was the right decision for now.

On that note, check out Parade magazine this weekend. There's an article on Lance, the Lance Armstrong Foundation and an ad directing people to call the program I manage (LIVESTRONG SurvivorCare) - hence (one of) the reasons I'm not leaving town now.

My (first) Summer Vacation

Last night I got back from a trip to San Diego with Chris, Missy and Lucie. They rented a house in Del Mar and were gracious enough to ask me to join them. I couldn't pass up spending time with my adorable niece or taking advantage of the one week that I actually wasn't traveling for work during the month of June. So I took the entire week off of work and enjoyed 4 days in Austin getting caught up on life - oil change, inspection, Buster's vet check up, etc.

And then I took off to (not so) sunny San Diego. Apparently 'June Gloom' is legit. Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining at all! The temps were perfect and it was so nice not to sweat except when running. The house they rented was beautiful and had an amazing view of the beach. We were a 1/2 mile walk from town and I took advantage of walking everywhere. I was also pleased to find that the sun rose at 5am! This is a dream come true for me. Many of you know I think that Austin is too far west in the Central Time Zone. I hate that the sun never rises very early, even on the longest day of the year. So the early sunrise made for an early wake up for all of us.

I enjoyed sitting on the patio drinking coffee each morning, playing Scrabble (and winning our 'Scrabble off") with Chris, watching Lucie point to birds and airplanes as they flew by, taking long walks, pushing Lucie on the swings in the park, eating fresh seafood, drinking great local wines and running on the beach.

All in all it was a pretty ideal vacation. As always, I'm happy to come home and was glad to have one more day off in Austin before heading back to work (and California again) this week.

Suffice it to say I've done nothing new around the house. But I am meeting with a colleague's husband later this week to start plans for my dream patio (crushed granite, fence lined native plants, new deck steps) so maybe that will be next.

But for now I'll continue to smile when looking at pictures of Lucie petting goats, playing on the beach and the most adorable panda bear cub who was literally hanging over a tree limb when we were at the San Diego zoo.