I have been so bad about posting lately, which is ironic because I don’t have a job yet so I have a lot of free time!

I hope you all had a fabulous Thanksgiving! It was very strange not being in California- this was the first Thanksgiving away from Eric’s family. Luckily, my parents came down from St. Louis, so it was a little bit of familiarity in this strange place. We had a lot of fun with them. We took them to Doc’s, a yummy Tex-Mex place, and to the Salt Lick (of course! You can’t come to Texas without having BBQ!!) We also explored the neighborhoods a bunch and went to a ton of model homes. We actually found where we want to live and are seriously looking into building a house there (more on that later.)

Have I mentioned how beautiful Austin is? Seriously, not at all the stereotype of dusty Texas. Everywhere you look is trees, and since it is fall, there is the most colorful mixture of green, red, orange and yellow trees. Every time Eric and I drive over a vista we can’t help but look all around because it is so pretty. Running just south of the city is a river (or lake, we haven’t gotten that straight yet) so this weekend we are going to look into rowing and other water sports there.

We have had so much fun these past few weeks! We’ve gone out a couple of times with Eric’s new co-workers and their significant others, who are all really nice! They have given us some great tips about fun things to do around the city, so we are enjoying exploring this new place. Austin has a really cool atmosphere- it is a big-ish city but with a low key feel. Last night Eric and I went to “First Thursday”- an event that happens the first Thursday of every month on South Congress Ave. (”SoCo,” as it’s known) It is a kind of music/crafts/arts/drinking festival thing located in a kitschy area just south of the city. There are a bunch of really cool stores (like this neat Fair Trade market with a bunch of knick-knacks from around the world) and galleries. On First Thursday, a ton of craft vendors come out and set up along the road, bands come and play along the sidewalks, the stores serve free booze and it’s just fun. We had a fabulous time exploring the different shops and getting free shots of peppermint schnapps from some guys on one corner and a glass of wine from “bad santa” dressed in all black and proclaiming “Merry F*@#ing Christmas” in another store. It reminded us alot of Haight and Ashbury in San Francisco with it’s eclectic group of people and higher-end shops. We stopped for a while and listened to an awesome band on the street. People were dancing and having a great time- one woman was dancing around while balancing a huge pot on her head, it was so cool. Every one was just so happy- that’s what I mean about Austin, it is so far from pretentious that you almost don’t feel like you are in a bigger city. (I don’t know about the rest of you, but I always felt slightly out of place when we were in downtown Chicago when my parents lived there, but I feel right at home when I’m in downtown Austin. I don’t know if there’s anything to it, but I thought it was worth noting.) Any one thinking of coming to visit should totally try to come at “First Thursday.”

This weekend is going to be super busy because there is so much going on. On Saturday there is a UT football game (I already mentioned we are now fans, bandwagon people, remember?:)) possible ice skating downtown, exploring the river/lake, and a free concert at Stubbs (a BBQ/music venue place). On Sunday, there is a huge tree lighting event in Zilker Park (Austin’s Central Park) and whatever else that comes up on a normal weekend.

Ooooh, I almost forgot to talk about our house. The neighborhood we are looking into is located south of the city (where we live now) and is just beautiful. It is a new development that has a huge greenbelt/preserve all around it. The houses are typical Texas style with Austin stone exteriors (which we love- very unique to Texas). We spent all last Sunday studying the twelve floorplans that they have and picked one that we love. We also picked out our lot- a corner lot that backs to a greenbelt- very pretty! They haven’t started developing our area yet, which is actually good for us because that gives us the opportunity to see our house built, every step of the way! Of course, everything will be posted here so you can see it too!! How fun! We haven’t signed any contracts yet, though-the land has to be released for development first and our sales agent is working with us so we can get a huge discount, so we won’t sign anything until the foundation is poured, which is also great as it gives us time to back out, if we need to.

There was one more thing I wanted to talk about, but I can’t rememeber it! I guess I’ll have to come back to it later. Anyways….we are so excited for Christmas coming up. My sister is coming to visit in two weeks, then we are going to St. Louis for the holiday, then Eric’s parents are coming to visit for the new year- how fun!! I think Jami is going to come shortly after that, too, so we have some fun weeks ahead of us. Now if I could only get a job….I better get back to working on that! I hope to talk to you all soon.

Ahh, hehe- I just remembered! I wanted to mention that I think we found a new Gina’s. That’s big news ;)!! It is a pizza place called Double Dave’s that has a Wednesday night special of all-you-can eat pizza, stromboli, salad and your first beer for $7.50. Each beer after that is only $1!! Pretty sweet deal…the beer’s pretty good (Shiner Bock). Not Firestone, but still good :) Ok, that’s it for now. I think you’re all updated now…..