Shopping Weekend

Yesterday Mom drove to Austin for a serious outlet shopping trip. Having heard me rave about the deals at the outlets in Round Rock, she wanted to check it out for herself. I think we did really good. I was most impressed that she bought 3 tops from Ann Taylor and her total price just under $50. That's some good sale shopping.

As you might suspect, this being the first time we've seen each other since Kevin's big engagement announcement, we talked tons and tons about the upcoming wedding. We were able to call Kev & Carly and get some more scoop from them on the wedding. I'm so excited to know I'll share their big day with them next year!

Next time I see Mom it will be on a plane bound for San Diego to see the lovely couple for a weekend. It even sounds like we'll be able to meet Carly's parents when we jump up the coast to San Francisco. After traveling east so often and living out there for college, I'm really excited to have a good reason to explore the other side of the country. Nicely done, Kev, nicely done.

EuroTrip Hotels DONE

We booked our last hotel for Europe!

In Austria we'll be staying at the Mecure Wein Zentrum which is one in a chain. (Hopefully that will mean they run like a well-oiled machine and are plenty used to silly American tourists like us.) While we hope there are some perks to the chain hotel, for that reason we did opt out of breakfast. We'd rather try locally owned places throughout the city.

As for location, its very central, in the "Innere Stadt" section of town which I cannot pronounce but I understand to be "downtown." The reviews on Orbitz were all good with a traveler rating of 4 out of 5 stars. And it looks very slick and modern which feels fancy to me and who doesn't want to end their trip with a little bit of fanciness.

Also being modern, downtown and a chain, it's the exact opposite of our B&B in Innsbruck. Looks like we'll be enjoying both sides of the spectrum in Austria.

That's it on the hotel front! March and April, in between my travel and both of our jobs, will be dedicated to making our short list of must-see places and figuring out the how/what/when/where that goes along with them. Yay Europe!

Giddy Up!

Courtesy of Ms. Blair

In true Texas fashion, today's team building event included BBQ at Hill's Cafe, horseback riding and happy hour at the one and only, Giddy Ups.

If you were at the office in the morning with us but didn't know our afternoon plans, you would have been quite amused by our team. Suffice it to say boots, plaid and buttons downs were all plentiful.

It was one of the cooler team building afternoons I've had and really felt Austin-y which I loved. I may have smelled a bit like a horse during dinner with the in-laws and during my post-dinner shopping adventure, but well worth it I say.

Busy busy bees

Holy mole we've been busy bees!

I'll give you the rundown:

• Work (duh) and today, very long work.
• FD Union meeting; hubs is on the social committee!
• "The usual" for the hubs, you know, saving lives and such.
• Fancy Valentine's dinner at Eddie V's. Yum! Details to come.
• Summer beach trip planning. One word: Limealicious.
• Lexi hung out and was worn out at Camp Bow Wow.
• Tax documentation printed, organized and ready to go.
• Dinner and taxes with in-laws tomorrow.
• Friday...rest? relaxation? Yes, please.
• Saturday: Mom! Shopping! Yay!

People actually read this thing

I don't know why it surprises me. Not to say I am that super interesting or anything but I see Google Analytics (and slightly inexplicably different Blogger analytics). I should know that people are reading this from that alone.

However I'm still always surprised when someone says "I read your blog" or as happened repeatedly at the company party when introducing Ross to people "Oh I read so much about you on Cheryl's blog!".

Same gang, different night

Last night when our buddy Aaron came down from Dallas (Hi Aaron!), we were sitting at the bar and he says "I read your blog." I was as surprised as ever. I never realized Ross' buddies read my blog! That's a whole new audience!

Out of love for the Aarons of the world, we tried to convince Ross to start blogging but that didn't get very far. Sorry boys, looks like you are stuck with me.

Mucho Gusto

It's been a while since I wrote a restaurant review I feel. But lucky for you (and for me) the hubby and I discovered a tasty little Italian place earlier this week.

We were celebrating some good work I had done at the office so it was my pick. Our qualifiers were moderate price point, not a chain, outside of downtown and per the hubby's request, Italian. I poked around on Yelp and came up with a brand new place, Gusto Italian Kitchen & Wine Bar.

It's in the Rosedale neighborhood of Austin (which I find has all kinds of places I like) which meant central-ish but without the inconveniences of being smack in town. When we got inside we found this place to be cute, cute, cute! A kinda funky, art deco motif with murals on the walls and plenty of warm colors. It was about 75% full so no wait for a table. We sat at a high top in the wine bar-ish area. I say "ish" because while we were close to the bar, I didn't feel like I was sitting "in the bar;" it still had a restaurant feel.

I had a delicious glass of chardonnay, Ross had an iced tea and we split the antipasti appetizer. The whole appetizer was good but I especially loved the green olives (I ate all but one and only stopped at that point because Ross called me on not saving any for him). For my entree I had the chicken wrapped in prosciutto with a side of mashed potatoes and sauteed spinach. DELICIOUS. It was dressed in a tasty cream sauce and the portion was just right. Ross ordered the Italian job pizza which included sausage, mozzarella cheese, goat cheese, red peppers and onion. Very tasty gourmet pizza indeed.

The service was pretty good too. When I asked the waiter about the menu, specifically would it change seasonally, even though he didn't know the answer he was very quick to bring me a comment card to give all my feedback through.

Our total bill, with tip, was $55 so from a price stance, also pretty good. Definitely someplace you could go monthly if you were so inclined.

VERDICT: We're going again. Wanna double date?