Mom & Dad Visit Austin

Mom and Dad came to Austin to visit this weekend. We went to Zilker Botanical Gardens, Mount Bonnell, and to Uncle Billy's for some BBQ. Mom took all of the pictures, so I stole these from her, but here are a few pictures from the weekend.

These are at the Zilker Botanical Gardens:

Do you like my green afro?

Mom and Dad with the Austin skyline in the background:

After that we went to Mount Bonnell and climbed the 100+ steps to the top. That may not sound like a lot... and for people who are in decent shape it's NOT a lot... but... whew! It was quite a trek for me! There is a beautiful view at the top and some beautiful (but ridiculously big) houses that can be seen from there. We've heard rumors that at one time Sandra Bullock's house could be seen from Mount Bonnell, but I have no idea if that is true or where it was.

We followed up the sightseeing with (what else?) BBQ!

Matt and I recently tried making homemade peanut butter. I was amazed at how simple it is. Are you ready? You put peanuts in a food processor or blender, and you turn it on. That's it. You can mix in your own flavors (vanilla, cinnamon, chocolate, whatever). We bought honey roasted peanuts and used those and it is delicious. While mom and dad were here, we made a jar for them to take home. Yum!!

Matt and I enjoyed having them stay with us for the weekend, and enjoyed exploring some parts of Austin that we don't get around to seeing very often!

Birthday Girl

It's my birthday! :)

Today I was sitting in my office working when I looked up and saw two birds heading straight for my window. Austin Grad has floor to ceiling windows, and it isn't uncommon to have birds fly into the windows. Still, even when you see them coming, it will scare the phooey out of you. Well, I look up and see something heading toward my window. Suddenly, they slam into it and I'm able to see what is going on. A hawk was chasing a pigeon and chased it right into the window. They were both pretty shaken up. The hawk stood up, stretched his neck and his wings, then walked over to the pigeon and stood over it. The receptionist could see all of this by now and she said she was NOT going to sit there and watch that hawk kill that pigeon! I heard her jump up from her desk and run outside yelling, "OH NO YOU DON'T!" Ha!! She ran out there and scared the hawk off. It was several minutes before that pigeon was up and moving again, but he finally flew off. Several minutes later I looked up and noticed that the birds had left an imprint on my window. You could see the pigeon's face (eyes and beak), body, wings, and feet. The hawk's talons had chipped the window tint off around the imprint of the pigeon. Isn't that crazy?! I couldn't believe it. It made for a good story. :)

For my birthday, Matt got us tickets to see The Lion King play. I saw it once in New York when I was around 13 or 14 and remembered that it was incredible, but didn't actually remember many of the details. We heard months ago that it was coming to Austin, but I didn't know Matt had gotten us tickets.

It was AMAZING. The tickets were a little pricey, but if you ever have the opportunity to go - GO!

All in all, it was a great birthday. And now I'm a year older!