Over the River and Through the Woods...

So this past weekend I headed down to the Guadalupe river with KC and Tom and a bunch of Tom's friends. This was the 4th annual trip (I think) for Tom and his friends, but the first year we got to go. It has been forever since I got to float the river and I always love to get down to that part of the state. I am sure people who don't know me well would not think of me as a country girl. I live in Dallas and mostly conform to the normal Dallas type as far as the way I dress when I go out and I do Dallas type things like shop at Northpark and eat in Uptown a lot. What can I say? There isn't that much else to do here. For those who don't know, Dallas is sort of pretentious. Pretty much the entire reason I can't wait to move to Austin. Anyway, my point is that getting out of the city to go stay in a cabin in the woods on a river while listening to country music the entire time is definitely my idea of a good time. I guess it's because I grew up fishing on my grandfather's pond or swimming in the creek on his farm and spending a lot of my childhood in a little town called Tenaha, TX (don't worry, no one else knows where it is either). And not like Tyler is a huge town, which is where I grew up. I love small towns and being 'away from it all', so I was looking forward to a relaxing weekend.

On the way down it was me, Jason and my friend KC in a car. KC is one of my best friends and favorite people. We spent the ride down torturing Jason (who hates country music) by playing rounds of dueling iPods. We would find our favorite country songs and play them loud and sing louder. KC had some great songs that I hadn't heard in forever like Waylon Jennings' 'Amanda', some Dolly Parton 'Why'd You Come in Here Lookin Like That' and 'Behind Closed Doors' by Charlie Pride. Such good stuff. I also learned a few new songs that were greatness. She had the new Reckless Kelly CD and there is a song about New Orleans on there that is just so beautiful and sad. They bring the horns in toward the end and it just reminds me how much I used to love that city and the fact that wherever you went you would hear music. Also, not sure how, but I had never heard the song 'Ireland' by Garth Brooks. It was on his Fresh Horses CDs and we listened to that whole thing. 'That Ol Wind' is such a good song and I hadn't heard it in forever. I forgot how much I used to like ol' Garth. I remember how hard it was to get tickets to his show in College Station my Junior Year of college. One of the best shows ever I thought.

We stopped in Waco at this place called George's for lunch and O's. Now apparently George's is super famous. Everyone couldn't believe I had never heard of it. I didn't think anything good existed in Waco (except the Fazoli's on Hwy 35), but I was wrong. I had the best food there! Fried catfish with black eyed peas, macaroni and cheese and fried okra. Now if that ain't comfort food I don't know what is! Plus they have these big beers called O's. What I was told is that back in the day when girls at Baylor weren't allowed to drink they would come here and order big orange juices or OJs, which was shortened to O's, which were really beer. Pretty funny.

We finally got to the cabin and were lucky enough to get a bed - there were only two full size beds and everyone else had either a bunk bed or a futon or the floor. Score one for us! So that night we just kind of hung out, grilled out brats and burgers which were deLISH. We stayed up kind of late just hanging out and playing games. KC and I also bravely forded the freezing cold river from one side to the other and back for no real good reason, other than we just wanted to. I hate lakes (I am scared of fish) and the like so I was pretty proud of myself.

The next morning we got up and got ready to go float the river. The tube rental place was about a minute walk from our house so we walked down, got tubes and headed up stream. It was actually a really perfect day for it. If you have never been to the river, then you don't know that the water is really cold. Like numb your body cold. But it was SO hot that day that it felt great and you totally get used to it after a while. KC and I had made a ton of sandwiches for the trip and we basically just floated down the river and listened to music for about 5 hours. Now, the Guadalupe river is not the nicest river I have ever floated. The water is sort of dirty and gross sometimes, but it isn't terrible, and the scenery makes up for it. It is in hill country so there are big hills and cliffs on either side of you and tons of trees. Just floating along with the beautiful scenery and talking to friends is so relaxing to me. It was a great day.

That night I knew that Bob Schneider - one of my favorite singers - was playing at Greune Hall. Greune Hall is the oldest dance hall in Texas and I had never been so I wanted to go. I know myself, though, and I knew after being in the sun all day that if I didn't have a nap I would tucker out too early. So I took a long nap when we got back and was awakened just in time to eat some more seriously tasty brats that Tom made. Then I got all ready to go, just to find out that everyone else was tired and I was going to have a hard time rallying the troops. I basically made Jason go and then Tom and KC volunteered to come along as well, and Tom's friend Leslie came too, so we had a good group. Bob was awesome as usual. He totally sang Batman, which I haven't heard in forever and I always forget how funny it is. Fun was had by all and we all passed out when we got home.

Sunday we pretty much just got up and left. The car ride home was a lot quieter, which I am quite sure made Jason happy, with a stop at La Margarita in Round Rock for lunch. We got home around 4 I think and I vegged out on the couch to watch Mad Men DVDs - which is an awesome show that you should check out if you have an inkling.

So that was our trip. No more trips in the near future until me, mom and Amanda go to the World in August.

The Fourth

We went down to Austin for the Fourth of July this past weekend. It was our first trip anywhere since Italy, and I realize you can't really compare Austin to Italy, but that didn't stop me from trying! The main thing is really the hotel. To have a bath tub, a nice hair dryer, and even an IRON! Well those things are just really nice to have on vacation and I don't care if I sound like a spoiled American, I need my iron. Wrinkles are my enemy.

We stayed at the Hyatt Regency in downtown and we got it on Priceline for a steal! Go us. We got in on Thursday night and headed straight to Hula Hut for some dinner. We just split some nachos because we know what awaits us next door...Mozart's! For those who don't know, Mozart's is a dessert place on Town Lake that is delish. Jason had some chocolate cake with some Amy's Mexican Vanilla ice cream on the side and I had a lemon bar with some coffee. Both were super t to the a.

Friday we slept in and then got up and went to eat breakfast at, where else?, Kerbey Lane. This place never disappoints. It is always so good, which is why there is always a wait. So one baked potato omelet, two red, white and blue pancakes and some kerbey queso later, we decided to drive around looking for houses. The plan is to move there in a couple of years so we always look around while we are down there. We looked in a bunch of cute neighborhoods that aren't too far from downtown, but holy cow, they are expensive! I honestly don't see how anyone affords them, especially in today's 'you must have 20% down payment' world. We found this cute little 1200 sq ft house on about a quarter acre for $313,000!!! I don't know about you, but I am guessing people who have $60K laying around for a down payment aren't looking for a tiny house. I have no idea who can buy these places, but we can't. Unless we make a killing on our current house at least.

After that we went back to the hotel and laid by the pool for a while, then we went to Whole Foods and made ourselves a picnic to take to the fireworks show that night. Right next door to our hotel there was an outdoor concert with the Austin Symphony Orchestra. They played all kinds of patriotic music and then there was a great fireworks show out over the lake. The weather turned out great too. It was cloudy and breezy, so not too hot.

The next day we got up and went to this thing called RockKarts. It is basically really fast go carts. Jason is huge in to cars and stuff like F1 racing so he was so excited to do this. It isn't exactly my idea of fun, but we went anyway. You have to suit up in like a full body suit complete with helmet and gloves. You get to go around this track like 10 times and that is it. It was fun, I guess, but Jason loved it. I wanted to go to Schlitterbahn, but Jason refused. He apparently doesn't like public water parks. Something about the sanitary conditions of it. So we went shopping at the outlet mall in San Marcos instead.

That night we got ready and were going to grab a bite to eat at Threadgill's and then see The Scabs at Antone's. However, by the time we ate it was 11 o clock, which means the restaurant was all empty and quiet and we got too tired to go to the concert. Yes, we are total losers. Sunday we got up and drove out to eat at the Oasis on Lake Travis. I had never been before but had heard it was cool. I kind of figured it would be overpriced bad food that you pay for to sit by an awesome lake, but actually the food was really good and not that expensive. The only downfall was that Jason ordered what they call the 'perfect margarita', and it was not perfect by far. So bad he sent it back. But everything else was yum and then it was time to head back to Dallas. Which is when we met our little Gretta who you read about last post. =)

It's a Girl!

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originally uploaded by Sooner Trent.

No, I am not pregnant. But we DO have a new addition to our family! Meet the newest member of the Trent family - Gretta. How did this happen you ask? Well, we had been looking for a new dog for a while now. Boomer, once shy and anti-social, seems to have begun to enjoy other dogs, and especially cats, company. The last couple of times we have visited our parents he has had fun with his 'cousins' and seems sad when he gets home and is all alone. So first, we thought he might enjoy someone to play with. Especially once we have kids, since I hear you tend to start ignoring the dogs a little.

Also, we figured if we were going to get another dog, before we have kids would be the time to do it. We need time to get her settled in and housebroken for sure! So we had decided we wanted a girl and something smaller than Boomer so he wouldn't feel threatened. We wanted either a beagle or dachshund or something similar so I have been looking on different shelter pages for a while and finally found Gretta (or Jennyfur as the shelter was calling her). We met up with her foster family at Petsmart on Sunday afternoon and just loved her! She is so cute and sweet and we took her right then and there. At first when we got her home she didn't seem too sure she liked it here. 'Stairs? What are these and how do I work them?' she asked. But now she is running up and down them and she has her own little bed next to Boomer which she has taken to very nicely. The foster family said she was housebroken...but we are still working on that a little bit. =) She'll get the hang of it though.

So she can't wait to meet everyone and I am sure you will love her too!