30 Is the New...30!

I think I'll take a moment, celebrate my age
The ending of an era and the turning of a page
Now it's time to focus in on where I go from here
Lord have mercy on my next thirty years

In my next thirty years I'm gonna have some fun
Try to forget about all the crazy things I've done
Maybe now I've conquered all my adolescent fears
And I'll do it better in my next thirty years*

I just turned thirty, and I couldn't be happier about what I've accomplished to this point or more excited about what is ahead of me!

Among the achievements I am most proud of in these first three decades are:

Graduating from the University of Florida
Taking a chance and moving to Austin on my own
Earning a Masters degree from the University of Texas
Buying a house
Working for the Lance Armstrong Foundation
Running the New York City Marathon
Raising thousands of dollars for charity
Being a loyal friend
Being a loving daughter, sister, and aunt (and mother to Bailey!)
Enjoying life to the fullest

Watch out world, this girl is just getting started!



*Please note that I left out the part of the song that mentions drinking 'not so many beers' as I refuse to make any guarantees in that department.

How to Entertain Yourself In the Sunshine State

Last week I took an impromptu trip to Orlando to visit with family and friends. I followed that up immediately with a long-planned trip to Jacksonville for the Florida/Georgia football game, which I hadn't been to in five years. That's a lot of Florida in one week, but I dare say I kept myself well entertained. Here are some sure fire ways to enjoy yourself the next time you are in the Sunshine State:

Play with your niece in a pumpkin patch







Celebrate a milestone birthday with your fabulous family







Drink beer from the mouth of a rubber alligator



Taunt Georgia fans





Tailgate!





Beat your rival in overtime

Learning to Let Go

I've never considered myself a Type A personality, but I'm finding lately that I don't do well with things that are completely out of my control. Surely I'm not the only one out there that feels this way, but the problem is amplified because I'm depending heavily on something outside of my control right now. I need to sell my house to make my goal of moving overseas a reality, but as hard as we're working to find a buyer, we still don't have a deal. I know - the economy sucks, the market is over-saturated with sellers, my master bedroom is on the second floor, old people don't like stairs, blah blah. I'm trying so hard to be patient, but this affects such a major part of my life at the moment that I am completely stressing out! I literally feel like I'm ready to jump into a beautiful body of water (the Pacific Ocean, perhaps?) and swim to a very happy place, but I'm unfortunately wearing a pair of cement shoes. Wow, that was deep, huh?

I guess I need to take a deep breath and try to enjoy the uncertainty and all that might bring. Plus, being 'stuck' in Austin, TX while things pan out isn't exactly a death sentence, is it? Case in point, while there was an open house today at my place, Bailey and I snuck out and enjoyed a couple of hours at beautiful Zilker Park in downtown Austin. And it was a magnificent day!



Self portrait



The house issue is also helping me to recognize other areas of my life that I need to try to let go of control over. Relationships with others, for instance. It feels like I've spent a lifetime trying to get people to feel a certain way about me... and let me tell you, I'm exhausted! I think I'll just sit back, relax and see what comes my way. Or at least line up that spot at the convent...

So if you need me in the near future, I'll be over here learning to let go. And hoping that things will work themselves out the way they are supposed to!

ACL Day 3 (or I Think I Drank the Kool-Aid)

Sunday, October 11

4:00 We get a late start for obvious reasons. There are grumblings about potentially not wanting to attend at all, but we rally and get ourselves out there.

Still standing



4:07 We see the gold sequin jacket dude again. Same exact outfit. This guy rules.

5:00 Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros. Wow. I'm not sure what I had envisioned, but this caught me slightly off guard, albeit in a good way. This dude took the stage and looked like he could be holding a church revival meeting or at least was the leader of a cult. And the music had a very similar feeling to it. But I loved it! I'm pretty sure I would join that cult, though I don't think I would move to the compound. Honestly, this goes down as one of my favorites of the festival.

Random sidenote: there was a TOM's booth in the marketplace this year, and Michelle and I walked over so she could buy some more comfy shoes. Turns out she leaves her wallet there, and they later text her about it, then offer to deliver it to her work today. I'm so impressed, I'm going to buy another pair!

6:00 We opt for The Flaming Lips over Band of Horses. We could have probably seen both, but were feeling lazy. The Lips were good, but not nearly as good as when I saw them at SXSW a few years years ago. Could have been me, could have been them, but it was a little less than I was hoping.

The Flaming Lips



Most excited fan, in many ways



8:00 Set up shop for The Eagles. Behind us, Norah Jones is finishing up. I text my friend Adam, who I've heard detests her, asking him if he'd like me to buy him a commemorative t-shirt, and get the following reply:

"Please do, then douse it in a flammable liquid, jam that in the top of a glass vessel filled with said flammable liquid, light it and hurl it towards her, molotov cocktail style. Enjoy ACL!"

Incredible. The Eagles were about exactly what you would have expected, nothing more and nothing less. I wasn't keen on staying very long, especially after they cracked this joke on stage 'We wrote this song back when the Dead Sea was only sick.' That was all she wrote for me!

In all, ACL 2010 goes down as one of the best years yet for me! Can't wait until next year...or 2012 if I just happen to be out of the country in 2011 ;)

Austin Rocks!

ACL Day 2 (or Revenge of the Kettle Corn)

Saturday, October 9

2:00 After checking in with the crew, no one is ready to go over with me, so I make the trek alone. I pack as much vodka as I can in my ziploc bag (that I hid inside of a tampon box inside of my backpack), and haul butt to get to the Two Door Cinema Club show. I saw the last 15 min and they didn't disappoint. Fun dance music from a group from Northern Ireland...couldn't go wrong! I wandered from there to see Gaslight Anthem and meet Brie's crew, who were easy to find because they were carrying a green stuffed dinosaur decorated with a red bandana and Xmas lights on a stick. Party Monster - classic.



4:30 I have no idea where we spent the last hour, but I am pretty sure it included buying Sweet Leaf Tea to mix drinks. Also procured a bag of kettle corn during this time. These decisions would all haunt me later. Head to Broken Bells and enjoy ourselves thoroughly.

Frequently visited...



5:30 Check out The Temper Trap, another solid choice.

Florida girls



The Temper Trap



Our crew



6:30 We forgo LCD Soundsystem for Gogol Bordello, which was a must see per my friend, Mike. Tough call as LCD was very highly recommended as well, but I thought we could probably split the time. Well, Gogol Bordello was so entertaining, we didn't leave. The main dude is Romanian or something Eastern European and is insane! I downloaded a few songs, but listening to it on iTunes does not do it justice. This did not actually happen to us as we weren't close enough, but the singer apparently walks into the crowd and pours red wine on concert goers. He also drinks straight from the bottle of red wine during his songs. Their performance was definitely one of my favorites of the weekend!

These guys rocked



Party Monster feeling groovy on Day 2



Austin at dusk



7:30 Missed both Matt and Kim and Deadmau5 because I got distracted by the tent with the big screen broadcasting the Gator game. In retrospect, this was a bad idea. I only saw a portion of the second quarter, but it was when things started going downhill. The highlight of this was that I was asked very conflicting questions in two separate conversations with strangers - first, was I still a student at UF? and second, did I have a child who attended UF? Whoa. I dismissed both and kept drinking.

Fellow Gators felt my pain



9:00 We can hear MIA playing in the background at the football tent, and she does indeed put on a acoustically terrible show. Lots of yelling and screeching noises. We head to Muse, which is pretty great. I would like to give you more specifics, but this is where things start to go downhill for me...I was rocking out until I decided I had to take a quick bathroom break. I determine on that walk that I have had too much to drink, too much kettle corn in place of real food, and that I am quite nauseous. After informing Michelle and Jenna, they agree to leave with me and we set out on the walk home. As a precaution, I empty the rest of the kettle corn out of its plastic bag and walk calmly with my head down. Deep breaths, deep breaths. I am holding steady until we get to the Mopac foot bridge over Lake Austin, where I make it about 75% across before I burst into a full out sprint. A combination of the crowd, the running and the waft of kettle corn coming from the bag does it for me, and I toss my cookies (corn?) right there amongst hundreds of my festival friends. Thank God for the bag. I'm sure I wasn't the first and won't be the last! I have to say I am pretty proud of my execution, and kind of consider myself hardcore after this turn of events. Good training for Australia!!

Muse



Return of the camera setting



All smiles before our quick exit

ACL Day 1 (or Glowsticks Are Amazing)

The following posts will be composed as a timeline of events from Austin City Limits last weekend. For the record, this was one of the most fun weekends of the year, every year, and this year was no exception!



Friday, October 8

1:00 Jenna and I park, potentially illegally, in Tarrytown and chug a few beers for good measure before we embark on our walk to the festival. We decide that the risk is worth taking and we will probably be okay with just drinking at Deep Eddy later that night if the car is indeed towed.

1:30 Donovan Frankenreiter. Solid show, good way to ease into things. We spy a man in jeans, a white tee, and what looks like his grandmother's formal gold sequin jacket. Hands down my favorite outfit of the weekend. How he didn't pass out is beyond me, as we all know that sequins don't breathe well.

2:00 First vodka drink is poured, as Blues Traveler plays the background music for that glorious moment.

3:00 Miike Snow dazzles us with their attire (all black outfits with full silver masks), but we aren't moved to stay there the whole time. We head over to Angus & Julia Snow and enjoy a few Aussie colloquialisms before wandering back to the previous stage for the Black Keys.

4:00 Vodka supply is gone, and I vow to make amends the next day by sneaking in more (and sharing less). We are now on to beer, which I am sorry to say was exclusively sponsored by Budweiser this year. I begrudgingly drink Bud Light, and pray that I don't exhibit typical Bud Light behavior. I reminded myself once again that I must ration more vodka for Saturday.

4:30ish The Black Keys rocked, as they did in 2008 when I saw them at ACL. Michelle arrives on the scene.

Michelle and me at the Black Keys



Terrible threesome



Beautiful day, big crowd



6:00 - 8:00 Spoon is great as always. Vampire Weekend is even better, such a high energy fun show. Brie has joined us at this point with Maaaaachael, his friends and the party monster, which became our official mascot of the weekend.

Great view of Spoon



Party Monster!!!



8:00 We're all a little toasty by now, and The Strokes are on. Another great performance. The excitement is increased ten-fold when some random people in front of us start tossing out glow sticks. On top of that, I discover some new settings on my camera and hilarity ensues. At least it was pretty hilarious at the time.

This is so cool...



...especially when we've been drinking...



The Strokes



10:00 We make the long walk home, discover the car is still there, drive through Taco Cabana and call it a night. Successful first day on all accounts.

Can't. Stop. Partying.

Going Through the Big D

...and I DO mean Dallas! For the fifth (or sixth?) year in a row, as the first weekend in October rolled around, it was time to pack it up and head north to Dallas for the Texas/OU rivalry game. The following are several keen observations made over the weekend:

1. Oklahoma truly has no attractive fans. Our exhaustive search came up with nothing once again this year.

2. Even though we were a few soldiers down for the weekend, we should have still packed a cooler (with wheels) for the room. After a long day of tailgating and football watching, nothing beats crawling into bed with a cold one.

3. The Presidential tailgate was once again the highlight of Saturday. We were concerned about the lack of orange Jell-o shots, but they redeemed themselves with a trashcan full of orange frat punch and a cardboard cut-out of Justin Bieber.

Lindsey, Barack, Michelle, Justin, Megan and Jenna tailgating before the game



4. When you make your bloody mary too spicy, don't make a fool of yourself by asking how you can cool it down. The answer you are likely to get is 'add more ice.' Doh!

5. You can still consider your day a success even if your football team loses. It has taken me many years to get to this point, but I believe it to be true now. Not only did Texas lose, but Florida went on to lose later in the night as we watched the game from Milo Butterfinger's, a local Dallas watering hole. Jenna, Michelle and I maintained great attitudes and always has a full drink in our hands through it all.

6. Milo Butterfinger's is a pretty rad place to watch football. Sometimes the televisions freeze up and the waitress is likely to call you 'baby,' all of which adds to the charm.

7. Never underestimate how much the stretch of I-35 between Austin and Dallas sucks.

8. Jane needs to get her act together, stop having babies and join the party again next year! No turkey legs were consumed in her absence...;)

That about sums it up!

California Girls

For an unprecedented third time in five months, my group of college girlfriends got together for a major event in one of our lives. In this case, it was Kirsten's wedding day. It has not yet been mentioned in this blog that my core group of friends from UF, known fondly as the EIGHT, are not only some of the coolest girls in the continental United States, but are great about traveling any distance when one of the group gets hitched. In addition to this, we also convene for an exclusive EIGHT bachelorette party for each engaged girl. Though we live in cities across the country, we have traveled to Vegas, California, Texas, Illinois, Georgia and Florida for party weekends and weddings. Kirsten was the sixth of the EIGHT to tie the knot, and now the pressure is on Jaime and/or myself to find someone to put a ring on it so we can all congregate again soon!

And so the EIGHT all traveled to Ventura, CA for the wedding in late September. Most of us flew into LAX and piled into a sporty RAV4 for the trek to the site of the wedding. Traffic was slow, but a stop for In N Out burgers kept spirits high, as did our illegal parking spot outside of a medicinal marijuana clinic while we waited for our food. God bless California! After arriving in Ventura, we met Kirsten and the wedding party at a local restaurant and the EIGHT reunion was underway.

Reunited and it feels so good!



While the wedding party did their wedding party duties on the morning of the wedding, the remaining five of us explored the beach town of Ventura. A long stroll down the beach provided plenty of time to catch up with the ladies and, per usual, afforded me a healthy sunburn.

Catching up on the beach



Beautiful Pacific Ocean



Our main quest for the day was to find a good Mexican joint close to the ocean for lunch. Mission accomplished! We found a spot on the Ventura Pier that provided staples like tacos and beer, and set us up nicely for a walk down the pier when we were done. All around, a relaxing prelude to a great evening wedding celebration!

Long walk off a short pier...



What a day for a wedding



Highlights from the wedding included the fun photobooth, a great video put together by Kirsten that provided a walk down memory lane and the toast given by her sister that brought up how K used to go by the name 'Spike' as a child. We are all still laughing about that one (well, maybe not Kirsten)! I finished out my California vacation by spending a night with Jaime in Cardiff before flying home to Austin on Monday.

I'm getting married today!



Just missing the bride



vW, Pratt and Sass



The handsome couple's first dance



The EIGHT



So many chins, so little time



To the EIGHT - I love you girls. Six down, two to go!