Weekend Events...

In the midst of finishing up with posting about our recent wedding/honeymoon in Italy I had forgotten to post about how much fun we had last week at Alex's annual company picnic. Last year it was at a huge ranch north of Austin, this year it was at Volente Beach on nearby Lake Travis. Basically a small, very kid friendly water park with four large slides, a lazy river, various pools, and a fake sand beach on the lake. We went with my brother and his girlfriend as well and all enjoyed a day in the sun. The water slides brought me right back to when I was younger and used to wish that I had one in my backyard so I would never have to wait in the lines. For lunch we scarfed hamburgers...way too quickly on my part since Jin and I went on crazy raft ride no more than 20 minutes later, oy!

Fast forward to this past weekend, I surprised Alex with tickets to "Love, Janis" for Friday night. His 28th birthday was this past Wednesday and I wanted to do something special for him. The play was based off the book "Love, Janis" that her sister Laura wrote and was performed downtown at the new and fantastic Long Center. There were a lot of "original Austinites" in the crowd (with their gray dreads and peace signs) as well as Austin yuppies and even a few younger folks like ourselves. The play was very introspective, thoughtful, and completely amazing :-) The actress/singer that played the "performing, Rock Janis" was so dead on in all likenesses. Alex and I agreed that it was as if we were at an actual Janis Joplin concert back in the late 60s.

Saturday we went to our first Farmer's Market experience in Austin with the fam. It was in South Austin at the Sunset Valley Market...the experience was very "Keep Austin Weird"....and organic/farm fresh! We all enjoyed fresh pastries both savory and sweet, fresh lemonades and teas, and live folk music. We split up at one point to carouse the individual market stalls and I was drawn in by a tent giving away "free massages."

"Ok," I thought....."why not?" We sat in the massive tent's shade and were offered free vegan cake that was delicious and were greeted with overly friendly men and women. When it was my turn for the massage I laid face down and was "rubbed" not massaged, it was very strange in that her hands offered no pressure or release to my hopeful joints and muscles. I was also constantly being asked to keep flipping over which took all of the relaxation out of it.

While i was being "rubbed" I listened in to the conversation Alex was having with the others in the tent. It was strange how they were introducing him to person after person and acting like he was a member of their family. I started thinking...."this is all very cultish." After the "rub down" the lady asked me how it all felt.....I lied of course and she proceeded to try to sell me a $5 pamphlet on how to perform what she had just done to me....."um no thanks" I said.

I also noticed that Alex was behind me snapping pictures all of a sudden (see pic of me trying to be polite and listen).....weird! Then another lady subtly hands me a Scientology DVD and says, "...it's just information." As in "don't freak out" just watch it....

AHHH, I should have known! Anyway, besides that we had a great time at the market. We ended up with a enormous yellow squash and zucchini, plenty of fresh peaches (my fav fruit), some outstanding basil pesto, and a small ceramic cup that I deemed too adorable to not buy :-)

For lunch we ventured over to Flip Happy Crepes that I had been obsessing over since the previous weekend. Our only mistake is that we brought my dad with us who complained about having to sit outside to eat in the heat the entire walk there. Upon getting there there was a long line and all the picnic tables were filled. Boo, but we found an empty table and upon making our way to the front of the line were told that we had to wait an additional 45 min. after ordering for our crepes to even receive them. My dad was already huffing so we sadly walked to Shady Grove where I ate a lackluster Green Chili Burger....yeah I wasn't bitter at all. Alex promised that we would be back to Flip Happy soon and that we'd have a great experience as well :-)

Father's Day was nice and quiet, just spent time with my dad. He was just happy to order Rudy's Barbecue and watch the Yankees slam the Astros 13-0 :-)