A little bit country, a little bit rock n roll

Well 2008 is coming to a close and every where I look I see another top 10 list for the year. Movies, books, music, people etc, everyone has an opinion on what the best things of the year were. So I got to thinking about what would make my top ten list if I were going to make one, so I decided I would do just that. This top 10 is going to be the top 10 songs that I loved this year and listened to over and over and over. My list is a little different, though. This is a list of songs that I personally discovered this year and does NOT mean that they were released this year. So if you read my list and think, 'man that song is OLD', well that's fine. It may be, but it was new to me this year so oh well. I do not claim to be very hip or up on music. =) Here goes!



Runners Up - I wanted to mention a few songs that didn't make the top 10 but were in the running because they also were loved this year. They were Cath by Death Cab for Cutie, Falling Slowly by Swell Season, Watching Airplanes by Gary Allen, and Gone, Gone, Gone by Allison Krause and Robert Plant. Now on to the official list...

10. Garth Brooks - Ireland
This was neck and neck with Watching Airplanes, but ultimately won out. This song is pretty old, and I used to be a huge Garth Brooks fan, but somehow I just never heard it. On our road trip to the river this year, KC and I played several rounds of iPod jukebox and she introduced me to this song. It had apparently been the theme song for the year before and so we listened to it several times in the car, on the river, on the way home, and I have loved it ever since.

9. Natalie Grant - Held
As most of you know, the beginning of 2008 started out a little shaky and there was a lot of pain in my life. This is a song about leaning on God in times of trouble and the lyrics are just beautiful. I heard Natalie sing at Prestonwood Baptist one Sunday and this song just got me. So I listened to this song a lot the first half of the year when I felt like I needed a little strength and help from above.

8. Coldplay - Viva La Vida
So in the past year or two I have read a bunch of historical fiction. A lot about Henry the 8th and French Revolution and also studied a lot about these periods in my Shakespeare class. So this song caught my attention because of the interesting thoughts on revolution and rulers, and besides that it is darn catchy. I have probably heard this song more than any other on the list simply because they played it on every radio station a hundred times a day, but somehow I never got sick of it!

7. Eli Young Band - When It Rains
Another one that I know came out a while back, but I reallllly loved this song this year. Going along with the theme of having some dark times, I felt comforted listening to the depressing lyrics. "Start out depressed, and everything comes as a pleasant surprise" =) Love it.

6. Mates of State - The Re-Arranger
Alright, so this is a band that I 'discovered' early this year by a strange sort of happenstance, but I guess it was just meant to be. I only have a few bands/artists that I would consider my favorites, but this band has now made my faves list. This song is the title song from their latest CD and I am sometimes guilty of putting it on repeat a few times before I play the rest of the album...not that the rest isn't also great. This song is also my default ring tone right now and it makes me want to never answer the phone!

5. Charlie Robison - El Cerrito Place
This song is wonderful, plain and simple. It is beautiful and slow and sweet and makes you want to grab your best guy or gal and dance. "I've been looking for you baby" over and over is so simple, but just gets me. It is a country song and my husband actually likes it so what does that tell you...must be good right?

4. Mates of State - Goods
Congrats to my new favorite band and the only band to make the list twice! The first song I heard by this band was actually a cover of Phantom Planet's "California", which is how I discovered them on my space in the first place. I liked that cover and so I listened to all their songs on their my space page. This song I just loved so much, I have no idea how many times I listened to it and made Jason listen to it before I broke down and bought just about all of their CDs. I now love all their music, but this is the song that really brought me to them. Thank you Goods.

3. Counting Crows - Cowboys
Adam and his band put out a new CD this year after a looooong time without a new CD with all new songs. They had a couple new songs here and there to tide us fans over between their 2002 Hard Candy and now, but this was very long awaited. This is my favorite song from their new album and I was really hoping to hear them play it at their show in September, but that didn't happen. Either way, this song is high energy and there are a couple of stretches of lyrics that are so good they take my breath away literally. Thanks guys for some new music finally!

2. Brandi Carlile - My Song
I got her CD because I loved the song The Story. But this is the song that I have sung so loud in the car passerbys must have thought I was screaming. It is another dark one that seemed to fit my mood so often in the last year and the lyrics are, literally, sharp. One of my faves? "If you only knew my mind was full of razors" Ugh, that girl can write.

1. Drum roll please.......

MGMT - Time to Pretend
This is another band that really impressed me this year and a LOT of the songs on their album are worthy of this list, but I just picked this one because it was the one I loved that made me buy the CD. The lyrics are almost funny and almost sad, but the music is so unique as is their style, it is nice to find a band that doesn't sound like every other new alternative band out there today. And not to diminish their talent by using a word like 'catchy' but this song is freakin catchy. Do yourself a favor and listen to it now.

Ok, well that is my list for the year. Feel free to comment away and let me know what you think. Do you think my songs are awful or awesome? What is your top ten? I am interested and would love to get insight on new music.

Crisis Averted!

Ok, so we have two fully functional cameras now. Jason busted out his fancy schmancy camera to take some belly pics of me over Thanksgiving and we also have a new converter for my camera so we are good to go. I now have no excuse not to be posting belly pics like crazy right? So here is the latest one. I was a little over 20 weeks at this point...


It's getting big! I am now strictly on maternity clothes - well pants and dresses at least. Good thing the 'flowy' shirt is in. It helps supplement my wardrobe.

I started cleaning out the guest room last night. We got rid of the old bed in there and now I just have to clean out the closet and stuff. There are a ton of old picture albums and notebooks and stuff that I found, it has been kind of fun going through them all. One notebook I found had all these poems I had written in it. Which is weird because a) I am not usually a huge poetry fan, mostly because I don't usually 'get' it and b) I don't remember writing them. Very strange, but made me just sort of laugh at myself. Some of them were kind of funny. I also lined up all the baby stuff we have already gotten against one wall. We are blessed with lots of people who love us, namely our parents and brother and sister, who have already started buying for our little bundle of joy. We have decided she will be quite spoiled, which is fine. =) I also had forgotten about the stuff I bought her at Disney World this summer so it made me all excited.

Tonight we are going to get our Christmas tree with the Reeds and then I am hightailing it up to Allen to my friend Tamra's house for book club. We read the first two books in the Twilight series. I am anxious to hear who is on Team Edward and who is Team Jacob. I am almost through the third book and went to see the movie this weekend. It was sort of cheesy, but I liked it and for the most part I liked all the casting. All the sets actually looked exactly like what I had pictured in my head. So they did a good job with that. =)

Alright, I'm off to the doctor. I have had a sore throat and need to get it gone before we leave for New York on Thursday!!

Sorry!

So, I keep getting requests for my latest belly pics and I was fully ready to take some pics and post them today. However, I have run in to a snag. My camera is dead. Under normal circumstances this would not be a problem for anyone with an electrical outlet. However, in our case you may remember that we purchased this camera while we were in Rome in May. So the plug for the charger only fits Italian outlets. We usually just use our handy dandy converter to plug it in, but I cannot find it ANYWHERE. We took it to ACL and that is the last time I remember using it so maybe we left it in the hotel or something, but I have looked all over and cannot find it. SO, basically unless Jason can find it somewhere I haven't thought of, I will have to go buy another one before I can take a picture of my ever growing stomach. And let me assure you, it is getting big. I swear just in the last couple weeks it has doubled in size. This baby is going to be HUGE! =)

Other than that, my friend Lacey had her baby Kiley and she is so cute! Got to see her for a little while a few days after they got home. She is so tiny! It is amazing how small they are at first. Then was my friend Tamra's birthday extravaganza with her husband Michael. They both turned 30 recently (welcome to the club!) and threw a huge bash at their huge house in Allen. She outdid herself on food and decorations and we got to play pool on the new table that Michael built from scratch by hand. That's right, all by himself...he's very handy.

This past weekend was spent Christmas shopping and wrapping presents and writing Christmas cards. We are going to be out of town every weekend from now until 2009 so I had to get a lot done. Still have a lot to do but at least I got a chunk of it started. Where are we going to be every weekend you ask? This weekend is Thanksgiving in Tyler, next is a visit to New York City to see my friend Serena, next is Christmas with the extended family in Tyler, then in Tyler again the weekend after that for Christmas with the immediate family, then the next weekend is Christmas in Norman, then New Years in Beaver's Bend. Whew! I am tired just typing that! Should be fun though, and then it will be all about baby from then until April! =)

Well I hope everyone is doing great and I promise there will be belly pics soon.

It's a Girl!!!

Yes that is right. We had our 18 week sonogram yesterday and we were informed that everything looks great and that we are indeed having a little girl. I am so excited!! I had gotten to a point where I didn't think I cared either way, but I think secretly I was still hoping for a girl. I mean I really don't know what to do with a boy and I just think Jason would be so good with a girl! So we are really excited and are just trying to narrow down a name now! We have a bunch that we like, but I want to have it picked sort of soon so I can put it in her room and all that good stuff. Now it is time to start shopping for all things pink! =)



And as promised here is your very first belly shot of my stomach! This was taken about a week ago and I feel like I am already way bigger now!






I promise to try to be really good about updating the blog with any new info and pics of my ever growing stomach! Thanks for everyone's prayers and kind words over the last few days. Your excitement gets me even more excited (if that's possible!). I love you all and can't wait for you to all meet our little angel!

I'm back...

Sorry I have been really bad about writing lately. I have been meaning to start doing belly shots and stuff so people can start to see how big I am getting, but I keep forgetting and then in turn don't write anything in my blog. But I took my first belly shot last week and as soon as I get it uploaded you will be the first to see it. So for now I just thought I would take a moment to let you all know what has been going on in my life. Honestly it isn't too exciting, but here goes.

This fall my friend KC and I have been taking Italian lessons. Some of you may know that I took Italian for travelers last Spring in preparation for our trip to Italy. It came in super handy over there and I really enjoyed learning it, as opposed to Spanish, which for some reason just never excited me much. Maybe because I live in Texas and everyone seems to know Spanish and I want to be different! =) Anyway, KC was nice enough to take the Beginning Italian class this fall with me. It is just a continuing education class at SMU and we go once a week. E molto bene! =) So I spend some of my spare time studying and making flash cards like the nerd I am so I can try to really learn it. I am sure most people have a 'things to do before you die' list, and on mine is to be able to really speak another language. I can get by ok in Spanish, but I want to be fluent in Italian. I have a VERY VERY long way to go, but hey, everyone starts somewhere right?

In keeping with the perpetual student theme, another thing I have been doing lately is studying for the GRE English Subject Test. Most of you probably know that one day I want to be an English Literature professor in a college. But to do that I have to get my Masters, at least, if not my PhD. And the plan for Jason and me has been to move to Austin in the next couple of years, so the dream would be to get in to UT's PhD program. However, it is SUPER competitive and you have to take the GRE and the English Subject Matter test. So there is a practice test online that you can take, and basically I did terrible. I mean maybe better than the average person only because I have an English degree, but way worse than the average applicants score to get in there. So I bought a Princeton Review study guide that tells you all the things you really need to know to do well on this test. Basically, I must know the Illiad and the Odyssey, which I am pretty sure I was supposed to read in high school but didn't, and then lots of poetry (which has never been my strong suit), some Shakespeare (this is my ONLY strong suit) and lots of novels that I have, of course, never read. I made a list of every literary source mentioned on this test and there were like 200 titles on there. Out of those I felt that I really knew about 8-10 of them. Pretty sad for an English major no? So I have bought the Illiad and the Odyssey, as well as the Cliff's notes to the Illiad and the Odyssey and I am beginning to understand why I didn't read them in high school. They are LOOOONG. Anywho...they only give the test three times a year, so my goal is to study really hard and take it next fall. Wish me luck!

Next up, and most important, of course, is the baby. My stomach has doubled in the last couple of weeks. For the longest time you couldn't even tell I was pregnant. Well now that is not a problem. I think I still could get confused for just being fat, but every day I swear it is more and more just a huge belly. I have two doctor appointments this week. The one on Wednesday is where we get to find out the sex of the baby! I cannot wait. The one on Thursday is just my normal checkup. I am sure I have gained a good ten pounds since my last visit. I feel gigantic. I promise my next post will be with belly pics and letting everyone know if we are having a little boy or girl!

This past weekend was fun. We went down to College Station with a bunch of our friends. Friday night we all went to eat at Wings N More, but being as chicken wings is one of my huge food aversions, it wasn't as good to me as normal. The onion rings were very tasty though as always. Saturday I had a delicious Snicker's Latte from Sweet Eugenes and then we had lunch at Fitzwilly's followed by some shopping on Northgate. Our tickets for the game were pretty cool. They were on the alumni side so we were in the shade and got to sit the whole time. The only down side of that is that no one does any of the yells or really gets excited unless there is a really big play. We got our butts kicked, but that was expected so we weren't too sad. Dinner was at La Bodega. They have the tastiest burritos and I hadn't had one in forever. Really after that we went to bed and left early the next morning. Jason and I got back in town around 1 and went and bought a bed. We had been debating about what to do with the nursery and guest bedroom, so we finally decided to move our current bed in to the office and get a new king size bed for ourselves. We have wanted one for a while and so we just went and got one. We will probably get rid of the bed we have in the guest room to make way for the nursery!

Sooo, that is all I can think of right now. As soon as we know if we are having a boy or girl we can really get down to planning for it and deciding how to decorate and such. And with the holidays coming up I know we will be SO busy with everything. Next post...all baby news!

The End of an Era

Well as you all know now I am pregnant. That brings about with it some changes. Some obvious, some you all might not think of. To understand the latest change and how weird it is, we need to go back to 1997. My roommate Stacy and I were sophomores in college and we decided that the coolest thing we could possibly do was to get our belly buttons pierced. I was very proud of myself because I am pretty much a huge wuss. Forget the fact that I blacked out and almost fell over after it was done, I was still very brave. =)

So for the last 11 years I have had a round piercing in my stomach. I have not once removed it, and honestly most of the time I forgot I even had it. It has just always been there, but I knew once I got pregnant it was time to take it out. I had tried on my own to just pop out the little ball that connects the circle with no luck. So last night Jason got some pliers out and after many attempts, I put one pair on one side and another on the other side and just twisted until the little ball popped out! We removed the circle and now my stomach is bare. It is amazing how I would almost forget I even had it over the years, but now, when I look at my stomach it looks so weird to me. Like something's not quite right. Thanks for the years of decorating my stomach belly button ring. You will be missed!

Got a little story for ya Ags....

Ok, that line is what is said before some cool or exciting story in Aggieland, and what should follow by any Aggie Fans is a big ol' 'WHOOP'! The reason I use this line is because I have some exciting news. Now I am pretty sure that 99.9% of the people who read this blog already know this, but I also welcome any and all who find my blog interesting, so I don't want to exclude you guys! But the exciting news is that I am a little over 3 months pregnant! That's right, on April 12 (or thereabouts) the Trent family will be plus one more!

Now if anyone reading this is actually like a friend of mine or someone who I should have told by now and they just didn't know, I seriously apologize. I have tried to make sure I told everyone, but I now have what they call 'pregnant brain' which basically means I can't remember anything that I should and my brain has basically turned to mush. But I am telling you now! =)

So here is what I know. I am almost 14 weeks pregnant. My official due date is April 12, 2009. I now have a little pooch in the front of my stomach that basically right now just makes me look fat and makes my pants not be able to be buttoned. We can find out the sex of the baby in about 5 weeks I think and yes, we will find out. I canNOT wait. We are super excited and so far everything is going well. I had my first trimester screening yesterday and will know more results in about a week. Sort of depressing stuff, but basically they screen for birth defects like down syndrome and trisomy 18. So just say a little prayer that everything comes back ok if you don't mind.

I guess that is about it. I have been feeling really tired the last few weeks. I haven't felt too nauseous as long as I am eating something, but lately not much has sounded very good to eat. Sort of a catch 22, but I am starting to feel better. I have a bit more energy and I hear soon I should have a surplus of energy. That will be very nice!

So that's it, just wanted to make the formal announcement. Once I start looking pregnant and not just pudgy I will post belly pictures and keep you updated on the status.

ACL - Day 3

Our last day at ACL. Always a bit sad, but after walking miles and miles the days before I was feeling like someone had beat me up. I haven't been working out much lately (more on that in my next post) and was not used to it. We decided to take it easy this last day since the first person we wanted to see that day was Adele at 1:50. We slept in, took our time getting around and went to eat at Maudie's, which I had always heard was really good. Well, maybe some people would think it was good. I have an ex boyfriend who I used to argue with over enchiladas because he liked cheese enchiladas made with American cheese (ew) and I like cheddar. So we could never agree on a place to eat Mexican. Well, he would have loved these probably. They were made with American cheese, which makes them automatically gross to me. Oh well.

We finished eating and the boys dropped us off close to the park so we wouldn't have to walk the whole way. They were going to meet up later. So we walked over to see Adele and set up our chairs right before it started. Well, a girl came out who was not Adele. Apparently Adele had cancelled a couple days before, we just hadn't heard about it and Adele was still printed in the schedules. Boo! I have decided that British female solo acts are cursed. Last year Amy Winehouse cancelled and this year both Duffy and Adele cancelled. Bad luck.

We were planning to go over to the AT&T stage and get a close spot so we could camp out all day and be close for Foo Fighters that night. I am not a huge Foo Fan, but Jared and Jason were really excited about them, so we got close seats and stuck around to see Flyleaf. I had heard one of their songs on the radio, but didn't know much about them. Amanda and I went over to the AT&T tent where there is air conditioning for a while to cool off. When it was time for Flyleaf to start we walked that way, and as we were walking up the lead singer came out and started singing a praise song. I can't remember it now, but if you go to church ever you would know it. She just sang it a capella and Amanda and I looked at each other in surprise wondering if this was a Christian band. The song I knew played on regular top 40 radio, but I guess they do crossover sometimes so we just said 'ok weird' and had a seat. Well, this is the band that is nominated for the most strange/interesting/weird award from me. After singing a beautiful version of a praise song, the band starts jamming out and they turn out to be like this hard metal type band. Like screaming the lyrics type songs. I really dislike screaming of lyrics most of the time so I was once again in shock. Then she would stop and tell some inspiring story about something that had happened to her and most were spiritual in nature. She even dedicated one song to Jesus Christ - the song I knew from the radio - but again, even this song was a lot harder than it is on the radio even. I mean I guess everyone worships in different ways and more power to her, it was just all very strange.

After Flyleaf, Jason and I walked over to see Against Me!. Now I have always thought if I ever see these guys in concert they better bring it. I mean any band who puts an exclamation point after their name had better be some high energy peeps. I would say they didn't disappoint. It felt really hot this day and we were facing right in to the sun so I definitely was not as high energy as I would have liked to be, but they were all in black and jamming out. I would say good show and would probably have been better if I hadn't been so hot and tired.

After that we stayed at the AT&T stage to see Silversun Pickups. I had never seen them live and liked what I had heard of them, so I was pretty excited to see them. Well, I would like to nominate this band worse show of the festival. I feel like something was wrong with these guys. Like they were on something. They were incoherent and the music sounded awful I thought. We ended up leaving early to get some grub.

Next up was Raconteurs and Gnarls Barkley. Jared and I wanted to see Raconteurs and Jason and Amanda wanted to see Gnarls so we split up. Now, if you don't know who Jack White is, he is a lead singer for Raconteurs and I have a teensy crush on him. So I was really excited to see them. He was supposed to play last year with the White Stripes, but they cancelled last minute. So Jared and I wanted to see as much of them as we could, but we still wanted to get some more food before Foo Fighters and didn't want to not be able to get back to our seats. So we stayed at that show for like 45 minutes and it was great! Poor Jack had like a sort throat and slipped disc in his neck, but he sounded great to me and I really enjoyed this show.

So Jared and I grabbed some food and headed back to our seats to see the Foo Fighters. Now I said earlier I am not a huge FF fan. I do like the songs I know of theirs that have been on the radio, but I couldn't really think of that many and I figured a band like that would play more unknown songs rather than their biggest hits ya know? So I was looking forward to them, but not super duper excited. Ok, well here is my third nomination of the day. Show that I was most suprised that I loved and thought was completely awesome. First, they did play all their hits - and maybe the 'true fans' didn't like that, but I did! I forgot how many songs I like of theirs and I knew all but like one song. Also, Dave Grohl - lead singer - is hilarious and awesome. He talked to the crowd a ton and was really funny and the whole band just seemed so cool. They have a percussionist who was kind enough to do a triangle solo. Haha, yes like the metal triangle. A solo on it. It was funny. They ended up playing like 20 minutes later than they were supposed to and it was still PACKED. Last year for Bob Dylan - nominated for worst show I have ever seen in my LIFE much less ACL - I am pretty sure half the people left by the third song. So this more than made up for that and I had a great great time.

So that was my ACL festival for this year. Overall it was greatness. I hope I get to go next year...again more on that in my next post...

ACL - Day 2

So I slept for about 12 hours and was feeling good. Amanda and Jared had gone out the night before with some friends and got in around 3. I don't know how they do it. I am too old for that stuff now. =(

Amanda wanted to be at the festival this day at 11:15 to see Bonnie Bishop. She is a Texas country singer and Amanda loves her. She and Jared even named their new dog after her. They were a little slower getting around that morning so Jason and I headed out in search of breakfast and some supplies for the day. We were staying downtown and my google maps assured me there was an Einstein Brothers just four blocks away. There wasn't. But we did find a taco place that sold breakfast burritos. So we grabbed a few of those and also found a CVS to get some more water for the day. I just loved being downtown and being able to walk everywhere. Reminds me of being in New York, albeit on a much smaller scale. But we always say we are moving to Austin, sometime around 2010/2011 and we agreed it would be awesome to be able to rent a place downtown while we look for a house. Probably won't happen since the idea in renting is to SAVE money, but it is a fun idea.

After scarfing down our breakfast burritos, Amanda and I head towards the park. We found a pedicab guy right outside so we were lucky enough not to have to walk all the way there, which just seemed to start the day off better than the day before. We weren't already tired and sweaty by the time we got there and we actually got there before it was even open. Bonnie Bishop was the first act of the day so when they opened the gates we hurried to get a wonderful seat in the shade right close to the stage. Go us! It was a great show - that girl can sing! - and we had great seats and it was a great, beautiful day with awesome weather and we were just feeling pretty happy, but we decided we needed caffeine after the show was over.

We headed to the food court and got a mocha frappucino with an all natural energy boost in it. Now, lets talk about why I love ACL in general, besides getting to hear lots of great music. The biggest reason is that you are outside all day for 3 days. I mean even the years when it is nearing 1000 degrees by 5 o clock, it still just feels good to be outdoors. I sit at a computer all day every day, and humans were just not meant to do that. So being in the sun with the trees and the breeze, and this year the dust but nevermind, it is just exhilarating. Now, you add a mocha frap and natural energy boost and I may as well have been on crack. I was in maybe the best mood of my life for like four hours. I could not stop smiling and whenever Jason and Jared got there I was so obviously overwhelmed with joy that Jason was like 'wow you're in a really good mood.' I am, by nature, a pretty happy, sunny person. So for him to point out what a good mood I was in, well you get the idea. I was in a good mood.

Once the guys got there, it was about time for Fleet Foxes to start so we just sat in the grass and listened to them. I had bought their CD recently and liked them from what I had heard, but I wouldn't say I was expecting a great deal from them. They are really mellow and sound like something out of the 70s. Sort of an America meets Simon and Garfunkel. Anyway, I thought these guys were AWESOME. The whole group agreed that they were great and they were the perfect band to be listening to early in the afternoon since they were so mellow. Sometimes at night mellow bands will put me to sleep.

After FF we were going to go see The Fratelli's, but none of us were huge fans and I decided that I needed some kettle corn instead. Last year I waited in line for this kettle corn for 45 minutes, no lie, and it was worth every minute. The place that sells it is called Children of the Kettle Corn, which just makes it even more awesome, and it was just as delicious as I remembered. We also did a little shopping and found some cool stuff, including a shirt that said 'Remember the Oilers'. I really wanted it and meant to go back for it, but just never did.

Jared wanted to see Band of Heathens and it was at the same stage as Bonnie was that morning and we had very cleverly left our chairs there in the shade so we all went back to see them. I hadn't heard them before but I would say this was one of the best shows I saw. They had sort of a Texas country/rockabilly sound and we all really liked it. Even Jason. I am going to make a country music fan of him yet. =)

After that we went to see Robert Earl Keen who is always fun to see, and after REK was one of the bands I had been most looking forward to - MGMT! I had bought their CD last spring and was so excited about them being there. Well apparently so was every other person at ACL. Here is where my happy high went away and I get on my high horse. Let me start by saying another thing I love about ACL is seeing new bands that I didn't know before. However, I think this can be a pro and con in general, and this is where it is a con. I seriously had no idea how 'popular' MGMT was. When they first had them on the schedule they were on a tiny stage early in the day. They had moved them to later in the day on a much bigger stage, but still not either of the biggest stages. I think they may have had more people at their show than some of the headliners. When I got there, 15 minutes early mind you, it was a SEA of people. I tried to weave my way closer to the stage, but I was still so far away that I could hardly even hear the music or see the jumbo tron, much less the stage. Now, like I said I am all for trying out new bands, and I guess MGMT had the buzz factor going for them or something, but if you have no idea who a band is and you could not care less about seeing them then leave! Everyone around me was laughing, talking, etc (and by etc I mean smoking pot), and not listening at all. Literally when a song was over, I was the only person in a 20 person radius clapping because I was the only one who noticed that the song had ended. I was so disappointed. I am sure it was a really good show and all the people at the front were jumping around and waving their hands in the air like they just didn't care. Looked fun. I will have to catch them again sometime. =(

After this I had planned to get some dinner, but by crossed communications I ended up tracking my clan down to the John Fogerty concert. For those who don't know, Fogerty was the lead singer for Creedence Clearwater Revival. I like CCR, but don't know any purely Fogerty songs so I had decided to skip it. Well he ended up singing, I would say, mostly CCR songs so I was really glad that I caught it. It was a great show. I didn't see all of it, my stomach was calling, but what I did see rocked my socks off.

After getting some grub, we settled in to our seats to get ready for Allison Krause and Robert Plant. I had been so excited to see this show. I had their CD and loved it and of course, I mean, it's Robert Plant! (If you don't know who Robert Plant is, please google immediately and go oohhhh!) I thought this was one of the best shows of the weekend. I have decided that if I figure out how to make a time machine I am going to go back to my childhood and pursue the same track as Allison Krause. She is so freakin awesome. She has the voice of an angel, she is gorgeous and skinny and can play the violin/fiddle (is there a difference in the two?). Oh, and she's friend with Robert Freakin Plant! Their show was awesome. They did this sweet version of Black Dog and it was just a beautiful show.

Amanda and I stayed for that entire show, but Jared and Jason bolted a bit early to catch some of Beck who was headlining that night. I am honestly not a huge Beck fan, so we figured we would just catch the last half hour. We headed over and got there about 20 minutes before he was supposed to be done. We caught the last half of a song that I know, but now forget. Then he left the stage. We are thinking 'oh great we got here in time for the encore at least'. Nope, no encore, he just ended 20 minutes early. Weird. After that we walked back to the hotel and Amanda and Jared went to meet up with some friends. Those two have the most amazing stamina I just don't know how they do it. They ARE younger than me, but still.

Tomorrow...most interesting band and band I was most suprised that I totally loved.

ACL - Day 1

Well, it is that time of year again my friends. Or I should say it was that time of year, last weekend. Time for Austin City Limits music festival! Jason and I, and usually Amanda and Jared, try to go every year. For those who don't know what it is, it is a music festival that is held every year in Austin for three full days with 130 bands playing on several stages all through out the day. It is always a blast, as well as super tiring, so I am a little exhausted today as I write to you, but I will do my best to tell you all the fun details of the weekend.

Jason and I headed out of Dallas after work on Thursday and met Amanda and Jared at a 'quaint' little hotel in North Austin just to have some place to stay for the night. We got up the next day for breakfast at Kerbey Lane (surprise, surprise) to find that there was NO WAIT. I literally do not think I have EVER been to KL when we didn't have to wait. I couldn't believe it. Guess cause it was a school/work day? Either way, we were stoked. After breakfast we walked down to Tyler's (Austin's version of Raquet and Jog for you Tylerites), and bought some new, much more comfy shoes to wear to ACL, then we headed to our much nicer and more conveniently located hotel downtown.

Now we had decided to stay at the Radisson on Town Lake because it said online it was only a mile from Zilker Park. Now maybe it was a mile, as the crow flies, to the very closest edge of where Zilker technically starts or something, but it is no mile walking to ACL. It was at LEAST two miles if not more. Basically it took us about 45 minutes to walk there, and when you are walking in the heat all day long around the park, the last thing you want to do is walk 45 minutes schlepping a bag chair on your back, back to the hotel. So we did end up paying some of those pedicab guys a few times to take us back and forth to the festival. I bet they made a killing this weekend!

So anyway, we get in to our nice new comfy room and unpack and get all our stuff together to head out to the festival. We walk and walk and walk to the park, but once you get closer to the park it isn't so bad because there are TONS of people giving away free stuff. Free koozies, free beer, free coconut water, energy drinks, fans, etc. There was also this tent full of hippies selling mostly pipes, to be used for tabacco use only I am sure, and shirts and stuff and every time we walked past they had some awesome song on, such as Michael Jackson's Dirty Diana the first time, and they were dancing around like crazy. We looked forward to that every time we passed. It looked like they were having a very good time. =)

So the first day of the festival was Friday, and it was my busiest day. The first band I wanted to see was Rodney Crowell, and he started at 12:30 (which we didn't quite make due to the walk taking three times as long as we thought), but I really only wanted to see him cause I like this song "What Kind of Love" that came out when I was in like 9th grade or something. So it's old and I am sure he didn't sing it anyway.

The next band we saw was What Made Milwaukee Famous. I knew a few of their songs, though I am not a huge fan, and they are a local Austin band so I thought they would be cool to see. I would say they were good, nothing outstanding. They sounded just like they do on the album, which I know is what a lot of people want in a concert, but I like a little something extra added to a show. Whether it is just a few funny quips from the lead singer or some jumping around on stage to add some high energy. I mean the Kaiser Chiefs lead singer broke his ankle last year at their show, not that I would wish that on WMMF, just would have liked to see something a little more from them. Not a bad set, just nothing special.

After WMMF was Sunny Sweeny. She is a Texas country artist that my sister is really in to so I had gotten her CD and had actually gotten to where I really liked it so I was excited to see this one. She also had a stage where we could sit in the shade so it was a nice break from the heat. Her set was great I thought. It was a much smaller stage with a smaller crowd and we were up pretty close so it felt more intimate, which is always better, but she was also fun and the songs were great. I always feel like if I don't know a song, but find myself really liking it on a first listen, then I am sold. So she got a thumbs up from me.

After Sunny, I had my only break of the day until Patty Griffin at 4:30. So we high tailed it over to the food court to meet up with the boys and to sample some of the fine local cuisine. I got some nachos from Salt Lick and they were tasty. I love nachos.

So after some much needed sustenance, we went to see Patty Griffin on the big stage. She is one of my all time favorite musicians and was one of the people I was most looking forward to. She was great, but we weren't able to get very close and the sound system just wasn't that loud so we were having a hard time hearing too. I was a little disappointed, but it made my decision on whether to stay for her entire set and miss part of Mates of State, or to leave a bit early for MOS easier. I left early and caught Mates of State entire set. Good choice Kelli. The first couple songs I think their sound was a little off, like the vocals were way louder than the instruments or something so it sounded a little strange. After that, though, the rest of the set was awesome. They have a bunch of songs where they bring out a cellist and a couple violinists and it sounds so pretty. They sang my two favorite songs 'Goods' and 'The Re-Arranger' so I was a happy camper.

After MOS, I headed over to see Jenny Lewis. She is/was, not sure if they are broken up or what, the lead singer of Rilo Kiley, as well as a fairly well known child actor. You may know her from playing Shelley Allen's daughter in Troup Beverly Hills or as Fred Savages crush in The Wizard. Two of my favorite movies growing up. Anyway, I had gotten her CD and really liked it so I was excited to see her. I had to get there late and leave early so I really didn't get to see but just a few songs, but she did an amazing job. She is adorable too. I swear she is like 5 feet tall and she was such a sweetheart. I think I would like to be friends with her. Do you think she would be interested? No? Ok, fine.

Next up was the Eli Young Band, who I have become a big fan of in the last year, so I was excited to see them. They were pretty good too. Sang some stuff off their new album that I haven't really gotten a chance to listen to much, so that was nice, and also sang my favorites off their old album. The lead singer, Mike Eli I believe is his name, talked to the audience a lot which I like, so again, thumbs up for them.

Right after them was The Swell Season. These guys you might remember if you watched the Oscars last year. They were featured in an Irish movie called Once, and won an Academy Award for best original song in a motion picture. The song is called Falling Slowly and is beautiful. You should check it out. Anyway, I only got to stay for a little while because it was getting dark and everyone else was supposed to 'find' me and there was no way they were going to after dark and we had no back up plan. So I left early to go back to where they were. After Swell Season was Mars Volta, who I kind of wanted to see, but I am not like a huge fan and everyone else wanted to go ahead and go because they were meeting up with people later on. I was exhausted anyway, so we left and walked alllll the way back to the hotel. I showered, got in bed and konked out until 9:30 the next day. It has been a while since I slept that late!

Coming up...Day 2!

Ike is Gone, Baby, Gone

I was in Tyler this past weekend while Hurricane Ike was on the rampage. Friday night we watched as it rolled in to Galveston. The news was reporting anyone that stayed in Galveston who lived in a single person home faced 'certain death'. Pretty bold statement when there was a reported 20,000 people who decided to ride it out. I understand the need to make people take things seriously, and there were around 30 deaths, but out of 20K? - I would say the odds were pretty good. I feel like the media cried wolf on this one and maybe next time even less people will evacuate and it could be a lot worse. Who knows. I mean those people who stayed are not very smart in my opinion anyway, but that's beside the point.

So I was in Tyler visiting the parents and siblings on Saturday when Ike came to visit East Texas. It rained and was really windy all day, but not too bad honestly. We lost power about 2pm, but luckily my dad had a generator so we could still watch TV and had the fridge running and they even had a little mini stove to plug in. So we were ok. We just watched the news most of the day and then that night we watched Gone, Baby, Gone on DVD. Now, I saw this movie in the theater and thought it was so dang good that I told mom it might be a good thing for us all to watch. I warned them it was a pretty heavy movie, but as long as they were down for that, so was I. I still think this movie is so great. Great actors, great script, interesting storyline, just wonderful. Amy Ryan got an oscar nod for her role last year, but in my opinion, the whole movie was not given the attention it should have gotten last year. I mean No Country for Old Men? Come on. It had some great acting and was very well done, but I hardly know anyone who came out of it saying 'man that was the most amazing movie I have seen all year!'. Of course, that is just my opinion, but the basic point is Gone, Baby, Gone was wonderful and you should see it.

Sunday we got up to survey the damage. We were still without power, but the weather had done a 180 and was just gorgeous. It was clear and the sky was blue and the temperature was down right fall-like. We didn't have any trees down in our yard, just a lot of big limbs, but pretty much every neighbor had a big tree that had fallen. One of the neighbors had one fall on their house and destroy the roof. The men in the family went down to my dad's land to see what had happened to the trees there and so the women decided to go see The Women. The movie was cute, funny, and kept my interest, but the main thing I got from it was I MISS MEG RYAN! What happened to her? She looks great and was great in the movie and I need to see her in more chick flicks. Hollywood, are you listening? I hope so. I also love Annette Bening. She is always greatness in my book.

So I am now back in Dallas, where there was barely any hurricane type weather from what I hear. My parents STILL don't have power, or didn't as of last night, but hopefully they will soon. Are you listening TXU? =)

Movie Review: Tell No One

So this weekend Jason and I were going to see Burn After Reading, the new Coen Bros movie, with Chris and Jessica. Now those of you who keep up with movies are probably saying, but wait! I didn't think that movie was out yet. Well, you would be right. When we looked it up, though, it defaulted to the next movie times, which are two weeks from now. We just didn't look at the date. So we made plans to meet at the Magnolia to see it, but for some reason I decided to double check it on the Landmark Theaters website and low and behold realized it wasn't playing. So I will see that in a couple of weeks and tell you what I think. However, this day we decided to see something else. Chris said he had heard of this French movie 'Tell No One'. I had heard about it too, from Richard Roeper and Michael Phillips on at the movies and they had both said 'See It'. So we decided on that.

Just a note, in case you missed it, this film is French, meaning it is in French with subtitles. I know some people aren't crazy about that, so I just want to make sure you know unlike the lady sitting behind us at the movies. As soon as the credits started rolling (in French) she turns to her husband and says 'This better be in English!'. Of course it isn't. Anyway, it was kind of funny.

So this movie is great. I really can't write much about it without giving something away, and there are a lot of things to give away. But basically the movie is about a man and his wife who were childhood sweethearts and have been together forever and are super in love and happy and all that. At the very beginning of the movie the wife is murdered and the rest of the movie hinges on that, but takes place 8 years after it has happened. There are a lot of twists and turns and even some funny parts since the man is a doctor who is owed a favor by a French gangster. Also, a quick warning just in case you were planning to take the kiddos. Like I said the movie is French and the French just aren't as modest as we prude Americans. So there is some nudity, like full nudity. No love scenes, just like skinnydipping where you indeed see them in all their glory. Just wanted to make sure you knew before you go in case you are also a prude American and don't want to see that stuff, or might just want to anticipate it so you can cover your eyes. =) Otherwise, if you enjoy a good murder mystery with an interesting storyline, see it. Also, it has Kristin Scott Thomas in it, who apparently speaks fluent French. Who knew?

M-I-C See ya real soon!

So this past weekend my mother, sister and I went to Disney World. For those who don't know me well, let me catch you up quickly. I love all things Disney and this, of course, includes Disney World. I like to go there as much as possible. The question I get a lot is why? Why do you love it so much? Wouldn't you rather go somewhere new? Well, Jason and I do travel a lot, and I do love to see new places, but I truly think I could go to the World twice a year for the rest of my life and not see everything. There is SO much to see there. In the four parks alone you could never do all the attractions and shows and see all the other stuff that goes on in one trip. So that is one. Two, Disney is one of the most creative companies ever. If you can truly appreciate the attention to detail that goes in to every little part of their 'campus' for lack of a better term, I don't see how you couldn't want to stay for as long as possible. I really don't have time to go in to all of it because I could spend DAYS talking about all the little hidden gems of WDW, but if you want more info just ask. It is just about my favorite topic of conversation. =)

Now, more about our recent trip. Jason had decided he was going to Vegas with some friends, so I figured if he would be gone for a long weekend, I should go somewhere too. So where else? Disney. And yes, I was going to go alone. It really is so fun to just be able to do whatever you want at whatever time you want. But to make a long story short, over the course of the summer, my mom and sister decided to come along. The three of us went last year too, and my mom made the comment that it would be her last trip there for a long time. So I was surprised she even wanted to come, but excited. So anyway, we flew out last Friday, just as Hurricane Fay was leaving, and got there with no issues. We were staying at the Wilderness Lodge resort, which I was very excited about because I had never stayed at a deluxe resort before! Annnnd now I probably won't stay anywhere else again. It was the coolest place. SO well themed and decorated and laid out. I mean there was even a geyser that went off every hour on the hour to make it feel like we were off in Yellowstone Park or something. Pretty cool.

We woke up to a beautiful sunny morning Saturday and spent half the day at the Magic Kingdom and half the day at Hollywood Studios. It was good weather until about 4, then it kind of rained off and on the rest of the day. The second day was our busiest. We hadn't gotten to ride the newest ride at Hollywood Studios - Toy Story Mania - or see Fantasmic, so we had to move our schedule around a little. We went to Epcot first and rode Soarin' - a ride we all love SO much. We spent a couple hours there and then headed over to eat at the Kona cafe. Then we went to Magic Kingdom for a while and then headed back to the resort. After a nap, Mom wanted to spend some time at the pool so Amanda and I headed back to Hollywood Studios. We rode Toy Story Mania and then met mom to grab some food before Fantasmic. Fantasmic is my FAVorite show at the World and it was great as always. After that we rushed back over to the Magic Kingdom to catch Wishes - their fireworks show - and then Amanda and I stayed for Extra Magic Hours for a little while.

Monday was our last day there and we spent it all at Epcot. We rode Soarin' again and then spent most of the day in the World Showcase. I had never seen the American Adventure and wanted to make sure and get that in. It is basically a show with audio animatronics that describes the birth of America up to present day. It was really good and got me all goose-bumpy and patriotic. =) We had to be back at the hotel by 3:45 to catch our bus to the airport and we ended up waiting forever for a bus to the hotel and missed it. But luckily there was another one shortly and we ended up getting on an even earlier flight.

Jason was supposed to be getting back around the same time as me, but his flight was cancelled/delayed/etc and so he didn't get home until almost midnight, when I was already fast asleep. =) It was a great trip, very quick though. It was my first trip where I really had no agenda and I am honestly not sure I liked it like that. I usually have my Disney trips really planned out, and I just think you get more done. Yeah, you are rushing around and exhausted at the end, but no one ever said Disney was a relaxing vacation. You want relaxing - go to the beach. Anyway, my next trip will need to be longer for sure. Until then...K-E-Y - Why because we love you! M-O-U-S-E! 8O

Fay Fay, go away!

So last week my parents went to Destin for their anniversary. They got there on Wednesday night and they flew us out to meet them on Thursday night. By them I mean me, my sister and her husband. Jason couldn't come out to meet us until Friday. We have gone to Destin about a million times since I was like 6 and we have ALWAYS driven, but now I have been spoiled. DFW now has direct flights to Destin that are up and down and about an hour and a half. When we got there after only a total of maybe 2 and a half hours of travel (if you count the drive to and from the airport) it didn't seem like we deserved to be there. Like to earn our time on the beach we needed to endure the 12 hour car ride down. Nevertheless, we were there and the beach was gorgeous as always.

We spent the next four days mostly on the beach. Tropical Storm Fay was brewing in the Atlantic, but had really only gotten to about the Keys by the time we left. So all but one day was sunny and the temperature was right around 80 degrees the whole time. I mean even in June it gets up in the 90s. I am not sure how we got so lucky with the weather. I laid on the beach and read my books and listened to music and tanned myself. I started reading that Twilight series by Stephanie Meyer. I had read all about it in Entertainment Weekly and decided it sounded right up my alley. I finished the first book and went to buy the second one immediately. I had brought The Last Man by Mary Shelley and said I would read that before starting on New Moon, but classic British literature just can't compare with the struggle of love between a human and a vampire! =) So I am now about 2/3 of the way through New Moon and I love it. Went to buy Eclipse yesterday...

Anyway, Jason got to come out just for the weekend, but we had a good time. Ate some good food and played some mini golf. Then Amanda, Jared and I headed back on Monday night. It was a short trip, but really fun and we had a great time. Thanks again to my parents for offering to fly us out! That is the way to go!

So this coming weekend I am heading back to Florida to go to Disney World with my mom and Amanda. I thought I had bested Fay and was going to be there right before she hit and get back to Florida right after she had left. But guess what? She has decided that she likes Florida and wants to hang out there for a while. I mean I can't blame her. Mickey and Minnie are pretty fun and she is probably having fun adding a little something extra to Splash Mountain, but come ON Fay! Get OUT of there. I have Pirates to see and Figaro Fries to eat. And I don't want to do it in the rain! So please? For my sake? Go bother Georgia or Alabama and leave Orlando alone. =)

Walk Around Inside My Head...

So I haven't written lately, mostly because I haven't had anything terribly exciting to write about, but I figure I can just update with things going on and things bouncing around in my brain.

So a couple of weeks ago we went to see The Dark Knight. Awesome! Seriously the best movie I have seen this year, if not the last couple of years. I loved it so much. I won't even attempt a review of any sort because a) I don't want to give anything away to you people who still haven't seen it - although I am guessing you people are in the minority and b) it would be a little belated don't you think? If you want a review go read Ebert. My review is short and sweet. This movie was greatness. It had everything a great movie needs. Every actor in it was amazing. Should I list the talent? Ok - Gary Oldman (whom I LOVE, like really love), Christian Bale, Heath Ledger, Morgan Freeman, Michael Cain, Maggie Gyllenhaal, even a cameo from Cillian Murphy (whom I also LOVE). A List actors doing an A List job if you ask me. The movie was also just beautifully shot. And did you see that 18 wheeler flip over? That was freakin' real! No CGI, the real deal stunt spectacular. The script was greatness as well. So many cool twists and some stuff that made you really think. If you were on that boat would you have blown up the prisoners? I am thinking I would have. Sad, but true. Anyway, my point is see it. You won't be sorry.

We have also gotten closer to finishing our bathrooms. The guest one has been pretty much done for a while, but we finally got mirrors in our master bath! So we can finally get ready in there again. Now we just have to change out a couple of fixtures and we are done for a while. Eventually we have to stain the cabinets and redo the shower, but we are taking a break for a little while at least.

So last weekend my friend Gabby turned 27 on July 27th, and she decided to have a 27 Dresses themed party. Cute idea, no? Basically the idea was that everyone would wear the ugliest brides maid dress that they could find. If you don't know me that well or at all, then you don't know that I LOVE costume parties. Halloween is my second favorite holiday behind Christmas because I love dressing up. Sometimes I think I never aged past the age of 7. So I go to Goodwill and I find the section where the old gross dresses are that no one is ever going to buy unless an opportunity like this presents itself. So I zero in on this completely awful powder blue dress and I just PRAY that it will fit because it is perfect. I don't have the pictures uploaded yet, but I will post one some other time. So I get to Gab's and she is in this cute little cocktail looking dress. She thought it was funny looking, but everyone else said it was cute, which was also the case for her cousin who wore this cute shiny gold dress that you could totally wear to go clubbing. I am pretty sure not a single other person dressed up. Some people wore dresses, but like normal dresses that you could go to Anne Taylor and buy right now. I sort of stuck out like a sore thumb, but had there been a contest on ugliest dress, I would have won. =)

Also went to see Step Brothers last weekend. I love Will Ferrell and John C Reilly, and there were some funny parts and a ton of quotable lines, but I would probably recommend that most people wait until DVD. I can only take so many dirty jokes in a movie. I mean sometimes it's funny, but I think it takes a lot more skill to make jokes funny without going for the obvious jokes referring to anatomy or bodily functions. Also watched La Dolce Vita on DVD this past week. A classic Italian movie that I had meant to watch before we went to Italy, but I am kind o glad I waited. It is set in Rome and the Trevi Fountain is shown in that famous scene, and it is neat to watch and think 'I've been there!'. =) I liked the movie and it was interesting because a lot of it is in English because there are American characters. It is funny how when you watch a foreign film your brain sort of switches in to a different gear and you listen to words differently. I would be in Italian mode and then they would speak English and it would take me a while to figure out what they said because my brain was listening for a different pronunciation. Kind of funny.

Last night I finished my book for my book club that I can't even go to this time around, but it was called Marley and Me and it is about this family and their dog and it was really cute. I was a blubbering mess by the end though. If you like dogs, I would read it.

Guess what tonight is! The So You Think You Can Dance Finale!!!! Well part one of it at least. Tonight the final four dance and America will vote. I have absolutely no idea who will win. I heart Twitch so much, but I kind of want Courtney to win. Honestly, though, they all deserve it. The talent on that show amazes me to no end. I will be so sad when it is over.

So final thoughts on this random blog - if you haven't seen Dark Knight or Wall E, those are my top picks for the year so far and you should go. Right now. Music I am loving right now? Brandi Carlisle is greatness. Her song called 'My Song' gets me. Also still loving Mates of State and Eli Young Band lately as well as Sunny Sweeny. Recently I heard 'Please Come To Boston' remake. I forgot how good that song is. Alright that is it for now. Arrivaderci!

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!

DSC_0074.jpg,
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!

So You Think You Don't Like Reality TV

I consider myself sort of a TV snob I guess you could say. Ok, well, maybe Gossip Girl isn't Oscar or even Emmy worthy, but I mean I usually sort of bite my thumb at reality TV. There are a couple of shows that I say defy the laws of reality TV, such as the Amazing Race. That is a great show where you get to see new and exciting places every week and it really relies on people using their noggins to get through it. However, shows such as the Bachelor, Dancing With The Stars, Living Lohan (you could not pay me to watch that) and, yes, even American Idol I have always sort of looked on with disdain. I realize American Idol contestants are, for the most part, very talented, but I hear singing every day and Simon is just an ass. I mean why be mean to someone just for meanness sake? It is sort of cruel in my opinion.

However. My eyes have recently been opened to a new show. A glorious show. A show that I am not sure how I lived without watching in the past, even though my friends all told me how great it was and that I was sure to love it. A show called So You Think You Can Dance. Oh. My. Gosh. How I love this show. Even during the normal TV viewing season, there is only one show that I cannot miss on the night it actually airs and that is Lost. Everything else can wait until later thanks to my handy dandy DVR. But this is a new feeling for me. On Monday I start getting excited for the new episode and to see what dance style my favorite couples have chosen and what awesome dances they will have choreographed for them. On Tuesday I always start thinking the show comes on that night and then I get sad when I remember it is only Tuesday. Wednesday is THE day. Two hours of television bliss with me stomach down on my bed with my palms under my chin, eyes wide, with a big smile on my face.

This is how the show works. They went around to big cities and found people who can dance really well. Then they sent like 200 people to Vegas for boot camp. In Vegas they narrowed it down to only 20 people, 10 boys, 10 girls, and paired them up as couples to compete. Every week each couple draws a style of dancing and then have really talented choreographers teach them a dance in that style. The two hour show consists of Cat Deely introducing a clip of each couple practicing and goofing around with each other, then the couple coming out to the stage to perform each dance. I feel like such a dork, the entire two or three minutes that everyone dances, every muscle in my body is completely stiff. I guess I am nervous for them and just want everyone to do really well. I don't know, but afterwards, they face the judges. Nigel is the exec producer and is British and used to dance in his younger years. On first impression you would think 'oh he will be the Simon of the show and will bring everyone to tears with his hateful take on their dancing'. Not at all. He truly enjoys the dancing and is usually kind, with a few useful pointers in his comments. Mary Murphy is the ballroom dancing expert. And she is super annoying. She screams so loud sometimes I am surprised the other judges aren't deaf! Anyway, you get used to her though and she is usually very kind, but also uses constructive criticism to help the contestants along. Then there is always one guest judge who has some sort of background in dance, of course.

After the show you can call in and vote on your favorite couple. The next night (oh my gosh it is tonight and I can't wait!) they have the elimination round. They announce which three couples had the least amount of votes and each member of that couple has to do a solo to prove to the judges they should stay. Then the judges decide on one boy and one girl to eliminate. They haven't eliminated anyone that I have loved yet, but out of the remaining couples, I really like everyone. I definitely have two or three favorites (shout out to Twitchington!!!), but they are all just such talented people. I danced my entire life until college, and no I was nowhere in the vicinity of the world of talent that these people posses, but I still love to watch it and can appreciate just how difficult it is. The dances are so unique and interesting and truly an art form. The things that these choreographers come up with have moved me to tears a couple of times.

So anyway, to sum up, this show rocks. I love it. I will be super sad when it is over. And I will try not to be so quick to dismiss reality TV from now on. =)

That's it, I'm not having kids

Boomer,
originally uploaded by Sooner Trent.

So Boomer had to go to the vet today. He had a little red bump on his tummy that had just appeared a couple of weeks ago and seemed to be getting bigger so I felt like I needed to get it checked out. We had an appointment for today and a little before the appointment I was playing with him and felt two more bumps under his arms! So I load him up and we go down the street to the vet. First of all, we board him here sometimes so he isn't happy to be here in the first place, thinking I am going to leave him. Then we head in to an exam room where the guy who works there pokes and prods him just to get a feel for what I am talking about. He let's Boomer down off the table and is asking me if he has been acting normal otherwise, and if he is eating and going to the bathroom regularly. At this point, as if on cue, I look over and Boomer is going #2 right in the middle of the office! My first reaction was to say 'no!', but then I had to restrain myself from cracking up. It was so funny! He was like 'here let me show you'. So hilarious. So not only is my dog the cutest dog in the world (yes he is, and all of you who are tempted to post a comment saying no, YOUR dog is cuter, save it. you're wrong.), he also has a sense of humor. Who knew?

Anyway, so then the guy comes back with the doctor and Boomer runs under my chair to hide. We have to drag him out and then the doctor proceeds to aspirate (nice word for sticking a needle in and drawing cells from) the bumps. Boomer was such a champ, but I almost passed out. One of the bumps started bleeding afterward and I almost died. So this is my question. How am I supposed to have kids? I can't even handle my dog getting injected, what if a doctor tries to give my child a shot and I cold cock him? Not kidding. I am worried about this. I guess parents just learn to live with this stuff?

Anyway, just so you know, Boomer is fine. The two lumps under his arms are nothing but random fat deposits and the bump on the stomach is an infection, for which he got a shot of steroids and some antibiotics. That's right, my dog's on steroids. =)

On a totally separate note and for no other reason but to let the world know what a total nerd I am, I would like to tell you what just came in the mail for me. An electronic dictionary/translator! I always wish I had a dictionary when I am reading and don't know what a word means so i wanted to get a pocket dictionary to have in my purse. But I also am always wondering how to say things in Spanish, and lately Italian, and this also translates Spanish, German, Italian...and a couple other languages. Pretty cool huh? What's that? It's not cool? Oh well, I don't care.

My very belated birthday party

Ok, so remember a few blogs ago when I talked about Lake Como and how I celebrated my birthday there? Well, my birthday was technically May 11. However, I always do something to celebrate with my girlfriends, and seeing as how it was my 30th birthday we definitely had to do something big right? Jason keeps reminding me how we were in Italy and saw the Last Supper on my birthday. Ok, yeah, that was pretty big, but it is my 30th birthday! I need my friends to comfort me. =)

So, my friend KC rocks my socks off and she said she would throw me a party at her house. Her pool parties are my favorite thing every summer anyway, so I knew it would be greatness! She and her man Tom decided on a Regatta yachting theme. She even sent out formal invitations. Pretty fancy no? So I sort of felt like a fraud having my birthday party over a month after my actual birthday, but I got over it. =)

So my party was this past Saturday and it rocked! KC had gotten all these cute sailing themed decorations, like life preservers and anchors and even these cute straws that had boats on them. It actually rained some that morning so I was a little nervous, but it cleared off and ended up being a perfect day for a pool party. Tom had invented a game called Beergata (get it? Regatta + Beer?) so we played a couple rounds of that and Mikey had brought this torpedo thing that lended hours of under water amusement. We also tried to have boat races in the pool, but one of the boats broke so that didn't work out so well. I would also like to brag on my watermelon seed spitting skills. I'm pretty sure I won, although everyone kept SAYING they couldn't see where mine went. You don't have to be jealous guys! ;)

As far as food, well Tamra usually makes this stuff called Fiesta dip and it is my fave and a must have at pool parties, but she was in Chicago, so Lacey was kind enough to make that AND her famous chicken dip. Then KC had gotten these cheddar brats that were so dang tasty! Shawna made the cutest dessert. It was a ring of cupcakes, held together on top with frosting going all the way around made to look like a life preserver! I was trying to post a picture of it, but I am at work and some silly firewall isn't letting me upload pictures to my Flickr account. Do they really think their network security is more important than my blogging? What's that? I am actually supposed to be working? Oh well, another time maybe.

So basically my birthday party was awesome, and now we are back to trying to redo our bathrooms. We finally got the tile in and the toilets put back in. We started painting last night and will try to finish that tonight, as well as maybe hang a mirror or light fixture. We still have lots to do, but I promise to post some before and after pictures when they are done. It can only look better than it did before so I am excited!

TGIF

So, this is my first post that really has no purpose. I have just promised to start writing more about what has been going on with me and Jason. So I will start writing more, but bear with me as I get a feel of how to just write about random occurrences as opposed to specific ideas or happenings. I am a little OCD, in case you couldn't tell, and setting out to write a post without an outline or guiding premise is a little daunting for me, but I will just commence with my usual rambling and see how it goes.

We have been having some remodeling done on our bathrooms, both master and guest, and so that sort of took up our whole weekend last weekend and has us living out of our downstairs bathroom until the tile guy comes next week. They took off all the hideous early 90's wallpaper and textured the walls last week, at which time they also ripped out the toilets from the wall and floor. They can't be replaced until the tile is down, plus we have no mirrors on the walls so we are having to get ready and do everything in our tiny half bath. Kind of weird, but I am excited for when they are done. It is going to look SO much better. We have almost all our fixtures replaced, we just still need new light fixtures and mirrors. It is really dang hard to find huge mirrors for a bathroom that aren't $1000. We also bought paint this week and started taping everything so we can paint this weekend hopefully, if the tile guy isn't here.

Other than dealing with the bathrooms, we went to see Mates of State Wednesday night. They are sort of my newest favorite band. I discovered them on Myspace because they cover this song of Phantom Planet's called California. I love that song and they covered it well so after listening to them mostly on myspace for a while I finally bought all their CDs and now totally love them. They will be at ACL this year too. So anyway, me and some friends met at Gloria's before the show and ate there. It made me miss living down there so much. We used to eat at Gloria's weekly just about, and the one in Addison just isn't the same. I ate about three bowls of the bean dip by myself - it's SO good - and me and Jason split the sour cream chicken enchiladas - also SO good. We headed over to the show around 8:30ish I think and the second band, Black Joe Lewis, was already on. I actually ran in to an old friend of mine who writes really good reviews of shows/music/etc, so instead of writing what I am sure would be a piss poor review, I will just give you the link to his.

http://www.douchebagface.com/index.php/2008/06/12/headlights-black-joe-lewis-mates-of-state-granada-61108

Pretty good no? Anyway, my review is that the show was awesome. They sang my two favorite songs - Goods and The Re-Arranger - so that made my week for sure.

Yesterday, I was super tired from staying out so late. We were supposed to meet some friends downtown somewhere for an outdoor concert thing, but I fell asleep around 5 and didn't wake up until about 7 and was just not feeling too much like it. So instead I put in season 3 of Veronica Mars and continued to watch that while eating my dinner of cereal in my PJs. Then I had dreams all night about being friends with the cast of VM and how they went to Tyler with me for a party with my friends from high school. Annnd I am pretty sure I was dating Piz from season 3. Weird, but I'm not gonna lie - I pretty much always dream about VM characters when I am in marathon VM watching mode. I am almost done watching season 3 and I am getting sad cause I know it is almost over. Again. I will give myself some time and then start watching from Season 1 again. After all, NONE of my summer shows are on this summer. Entourage and Big Love both are on hiatus until fall or spring. Blah. Although, I am sort of loving So You Think You Can Dance. My friend Lacey turned me on to it and man those people are talented. But that is another blog for another time...

So how did I do on my first non subject blog? Were you bored? Spellbound? Comments? Suggestions?

Review: Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the oh my gosh I am already bored...

So, I went to see Indiana Jones this weekend. I love all the others and I had to see this. I mean there was never a question of whether or not I would see it, even if it had gotten terrible reviews. The reviews were mixed, but everyone that I knew who had seen it didn't like it. They warned me not to go, but like I said. I had no choice. Plus Ebert gave it 3 and 1/2 stars and me and Ebs usually see eye to eye, so I still go in thinking I will like it.

!!SPOILERS AHEAD!!

Jason had told me there were aliens in it so I was prepared for that. I mean I like a good alien movie, just wasn't sure how aliens and Indiana Jones went together, but I put my trust in the almighty Spielberg and figured he could make it work. So you find out pretty soon in that Cate Blanchett's Russian mob is looking for aliens for some reason. None of this bothered me so far. I also liked that the movie didn't ignore the issue of Indy's age. He isn't quite as spry as he used to be - although he is MUCH more agile than any other 65 year old I know - and I thought it was smart that the movie recognized that from the beginning. It helps the audience to believe a little more I think.

So Indy teams up with Shia La Beouf - who is a total cutie and, in my opinion, a good actor - and they head to the Amazon area. They find a crystal skull that can speak to them through its eyes, little Amazonians living in caves, Shia's mom who is Indy's ex, an old man driven crazy by the skulls power, giant ants that carry a man in to their ant hill and...if it sounds a little ridiculous, that's because it is. I was enjoying the movie for the most part until about an hour or so in. As soon as Shia is straddling two cars, sword fighthing Cate while getting hit in the nether regions by very tall grass or trees, I was done. From this point on I think I looked at Jason and said 'Really?' about ten times. I now will steal from Amy Poehler and Seth Myers in Weekend Update with a section called Really?

Really?
Shia is straddling your car and another car and you are trying to get him off your car. Your options are a) fight him with a sword until he falls back in to his car or b) drive away, and you pick a. Really?

You are driving toward a cliff at full speed because you know there is a tree there that will gracefully lower your apparently water proof vehicle in to the river below you without drowning all of you. All to beat the people, climbing down the cliff with ropes, to reach the cave with the skulls first and you didn't think you might just stop the car and cut everyone's ropes. Really? Not to mention you go over three more water falls in the same car without a single drowning incident OR losing your crystal skull. Really?

Then you are out of the river only to realize you need to cross it again AND get through the waterfall to the cave that looks like a skull so you can reunite the skulls and gain control of the Kingdom. And you apparently can just hyper jump in to the cave since we see you there half a second later without a drop of water on you. Really?

You get the idea. It starts getting stupid and just gets stupider. I won't tell you how it ends...you wouldn't believe me anyway...but it is about the same. I wanted to like it and didn't, although I am glad I saw it. I mean I couldn't have not, so it doesn't really matter. I just hope that there are no more sequels and maybe we can just pretend this one didn't happen? That makes more sense than the movie did.

Munich - Day 2

Well, this was our last day in Munich and Europe as a whole. We had planned to rent a car and drive down to see one of the castles in Bavaria, but Jason hadn't really gotten to do everything he wanted the day before so we decided to just stay in Munich instead. We slept in and then went and grabbed some breakfast before heading on the subway back to the BMW factory. Jason had wanted to buy something the day before, but the store closed before our tour was over. So he went back and got a cool BMW hat, then we headed to the English Gardens.

Now, I am not sure why they call them this. Jason said he thinks they are modeled after the types of parks they have in the UK? Not really sure though. The gardens are basically a big park with a beer garden in the middle with lots of yummy food. They also had a German band playing and the weather was heaven so it was really nice and relaxing. We ate some more delicious German food and beer and then walked through the parks for a bit and finally just laid on the grass and took a nap.

After that we went to the Haufbrau house. This is the big hall that every tourist that has ever gone to Munich goes to, but we are no different so we head that way. We had some refreshments, including more beer (I swear we do not drink this much on a regular basis for anyone who is concerned), and some seriously delicious apple strudel. Then we headed back to the hotel. We had to pack since we were leaving the next day (sniff sniff).

The Munich airport is about the most secure place I have ever been. We had to show our passports like five times. First to get our bags checked and get tickets. Second at the security station where we also sent our bags through the xray. Third to some customs guy who let you in to the International gate section. Fourth another customs type person who gave you the forms you needed to fill out and fifth at the SECOND xray station where we sent our bags through. It is seriously secure. I felt safe.

On the flight home I watched The Golden Compass and 27 Dresses, neither of which I would highly recommend, and we caught a connecting flight in Chicago and got back in around 5:30 Saturday night. My friends Tamra and Michael were kind enough to pick us up and take us home, but not before a quick dinner at Chili's. I was CRAVing some chips and salsa. We slept so hard that night and Sunday we had a day of Mexican food, massages and Iron Man planned in case we got sad about being home.

The trip was seriously awesome overall, even with a few snags here and there. At first I was kind of ready to be home, but now I feel like I am already ready to go back. Oh well. It will be a long time before we take a trip like this again and I feel really lucky to have gotten to go in the first place. We don't have any trip plans in the future right now, which is honestly kind of unusual for us. Austin for ACL in September, but not sure that really counts since we aren't leaving the state. =) We will have to plan something for this summer!!

Munich...the end of the trip

After leaving Venice we were on a train for a looong time. We had stocked up on snacks, but didn't have time for a real lunch before we left so by the time we got to Rosenheim (the stop where we had to get off the train to get a connection to Munich), we were STARVING. We have 20 minutes until our next train so I run in to the station to find something to eat. What do I find? Chicken schnitzel sandwiches. I love Germany. They were quite tasty and we ate them standing on the platform while waiting for the train. Then we wait. And wait some more. Turns out our first delayed train was in Germany, not Italy! (I know there was a strike one day, but that totally doesn't count). From what I had heard about Italy trains were dirty, unreliable, etc. I never found those things to be true. The trains were just as good as anywhere else I have been and they were always on time. But our train finally came and we finally got to Munich about an hour later. We had decided to make sure and have a nice hotel for the last city we were in so we stayed in the Le Meridian which was great. It was right across the street from the train station so that was nice, and we would have a king size bed! We pretty much checked in and konked out.

The next day we slept in, then got up and went to the Paulaner brewery, which is one of Jason's favorite beers. We show up to the brewery to find out that we are the only people on the tour. There was supposed to be another couple, but they didn't show up. So it was us and the tour guide, who was totally cool. This tour was by far the best value of our entire trip. For 8 Euro a person we got an hour and a half tour - one on one with the tour guide =) - a huge lunch of this stuff called leberkase that was delicious with German potato salad and huge pretzels. Then we got as much beer as we wanted. No joke. We sort of sloshed out of there around 3 or so and then went to the BMW factory for a tour of their plant.

Now Jason had pretty much suffered through Italy for me - that country is not made for his lengthy appendages - and had been awaiting this part of the trip for the last two weeks. Him at the BMW headquarters was like a kid in a candy store. They had all sorts of cars on display and a huge shop where you could buy all sorts of BMW paraphernalia. I was sort of tired so I found the cafe and ordered some espresso. I should have known better because we were no longer in Italy and it wasn't nearly as tasty. That's right, I have become a coffee snob. However, it if had been just as good I may have felt a little hoodwinked by Italy. Better that they keep the good stuff there I guess. Just one more reason to go back!

So the BMW factory tour was actually pretty awesome. We got to see basically from start to finish how they make these cars and it is honestly amazing. There are tons of robots that do all this crazy stuff and it astonishes me that they all know what to do. Being a computer programmer I am dorky and think about bugs in the software and what if they all went crazy and attacked the city of Munich. That is how smart they seemed.

After BMW we headed back toward the hotel and found this restaurant Jason knew of for dinner. We both got a version of schnitzel (basically because that was the only thing we understood on the menu) and they were both delicious. After that we headed to the hotel and went down to the spa to soak our tired feet in the hot tub, then it was off to bed before our last full day.