SXSW

Mid March in Austin is always a crazy time because one of the country's biggest tech/music/film festivals goes on for about a week and a half. Every year I swear it gets bigger, and every year I swear I'm gonna go but, then I remember that I am not a hipster, and that I have a life to attend to.

Arthur however, had a great time this year attending dorkbot, promoting a future tv show about a competitive food eater, and working with a production company that does work for VEVO-- the music video people. Working that gig had some serious perks like attending the closing show which featured kanye west, jay-z, John legend and more. It's a shame the show was wasted on him, someone who knows very little about hip-hop!

photo by daniel boczarski, from hypetrak.com

He chronicled all of this over at his blog which you can check out here:

http://www.actlab.utexas.edu/~kingofthesofas/?p=398

At the end of the week and a half let's just say I was thrilled to get my husband back. No more sleepless nights!

A place of my own

As part of my effort to accomplish one helluva large goal this year, I decided it was high time to get myself a place where I can write. I knew from past experience that it needed to be a desktop computer (I cannot write on a laptop to save my life, no idea why) and it needed to be mine: one where it wouldn't be used for husband purposes or entertainment purposes. 

Luckily I have an awesome husband who can build a computer for dang cheap.

Behold!

The cube! And it's RED!

Just to brag about it's smallness... that depth is not even a foot. I can have my small space, a computer, and eat it too!

Overall: fantastic and small and exactly what I need. I've already done some writing.  (Yessssssssssss.)

Valentine's Day

In our quiet way, this is what we did for the day of looooove:

Our tradition: cupcakes from Hey Cupcake! We get really excited about them.

And our celebration?? We busted out our china and made a nice dinner, complete with some martenelli's. Loverly.

Cold Weather!

It was inevitable that we would get cold here sometime during the winter months. It was uncomfortable, and at the same time, I was overwhelmingly grateful, like on the morning that I took this:

Grateful that is, that I don't live in a place where it's cold very often. I'd go cuckoo in a colder clime like the Pootah. (Utah!)

But every once and awhile, cold is a little fun.

I mean, how many more snow days will I really experience? Probably not many.

But it does give me the opportunity to make things like Baked Potato Soup. It was delish, and if you click on this link, you can get much better photos, and a tantalizing recipe. Still, I felt like it was a gastronomic feat, and deserved a few photos.

 Leeks! I never get to use them, and they're so tasty. And even though this recipe uses a WHOLE head of garlic, it's not overwhelmingly garlic-y. (Now, aren't you intrigued???)

Po-tay-toes. Lots of 'em.

Step one. Can't remember it, but it was easy.

Step two. Took the longest, but it was worth it because it filled the house with the most aromatic delight you could possibly imagine.

Potatoes added. This took a little while, and I had to puree some of it afterwards o get a smoother texture.

I would have taken a better picture, but this was after I had scarfed a whole bowl, and then realized I should have taken a pic for the end result. It was amazing.

Farewell Miss Holtz

On Saturday we got together to celebrate Dorothy as a bachlorette.

She is a beautiful bride.

And she was a fantastic bachlorette!

I was actually thrilled to go out with the girls-- Amy and I were talking to and from our various activities and we both decided that girl time was overly essential. Its one of the things I've missed the most since moving back home-- because most of my girlfriends live out west.

But you know, I'm on my way to getting some solid friendships here. For example, I thoroughly enjoyed dinner conversation with these two ladies here.

The night included dinner, laser tag and-- dancing. I haven't been dancing at a club since well, college. It was pretty fun.

favorite pic of the evening!

Letting our true colors show!

In honor of the nasty weather...

... a little beauty.

I thought they were the most gorgeous shade of purple.

The quite sad thing about tulips is, you rarely see the inside-- that burst of color! 

I thought they were appropriate, given my house looks so bland, post-christmas.

This is a fuzzy picture. Apologies. But I wanted to show off the lovely painting my dad gave us for Christmas. I like it leaning there. Feels nice.

Merry Christmas and all that jazz...

I know the title sounds incredibly sarcastic, but the truth is, I had a terrible time letting go of this past Christmas season. Perhaps it was because it happened so fast, or that we had so much going on. At any rate, I'm just now getting over Christmas. Its 2011. Time to look forward to a new holiday, something to gear up to. Maybe I should throw a Valentine's Day Party. Is that cool? Do people do that? How can I decorate without drowning myself in pink, red and hearts all over? hmmmm.

Here's some photos of our Christmas though:

I lucked out. He's so handsome.

Yummy Yummy Yummy.

Aren't they cute?

Dad's reaction is PRICELESS. Exhibit A) What's this?

Exhibit B) A New PHONE???? 

I have to hand it to Ashley and Harrison for greatest surprise gift ever. They got a brand new blackberry for my Dad that had been refurbished-- for get this-- $10! His old phone was in dire need of replacing and this did the trick.

Mom holding her fun gift: a new shuffle ipod. (Not a touch shuffle. I am not that rich.) She does however groove around the house with her white earbuds in, oblivious to you if you're trying to talk to her. It's awesome.

More yummy yummy yummy. Ashley made lemon meringue pie and we all loved it!

Sitting around, shooting the breeze.

Classic Ian.