We have been so bad about posting lately! So much has happened and I haven’t been able to catch my breath until now!

SXSW, Jessica, Mark:

We have been so lucky to have had several visitors over the past few weeks. The first one was Jessica, who came in to hang out and go to South by Southwest, the huge annual music festival that Austin hosts. Of course we took her to all of our favorite places to eat (we swear the best thing about Austin is the food!) including The Salt Lick, Matt’s El Rancho and Whole Foods. Unfortunately we had to work during the week, so she just hung out at our house and watched 90210 re-runs (not a bad way to spend a day, if you ask me!) One of the nights she was here we went to the Kissing Tigers (Mark’s band) show downtown. Since Jessica isn’t 21 yet, she and I stood outside the window of the bar and listened. It actually worked out really well because the stage was right near the window and we didn’t have to pay a cover! We also tried to go to the Jack’s Mannequin (Andrew McMahon’s new band) show, but after a really long walk in spittling rain, we decided we didn’t want to pay the $25 per person cover and walked back to Mark’s show. Even though it was a total bust, it was really nice spending time with Jessica. We didn’t get to spend that much time with Mark, but it was still really nice to see him. The rest of Jessica’s visit was pretty low-key because it was raining, but we had a great time just hanging out with her at our house. We hope she comes back to visit very soon (hint, hint.)

Sarah and Jason’s Visit:

A few days later Sarah and Jason came in to town, and you know what that meant- “Operation: Get Sarah and Jason to Move Here” was in full swing. They came in Friday night and we went downtown for Tapas at Malagas. It was a great start to their visit- yummy food and a lively atmosphere. On Saturday we took the puppy and went to the farmers market downtown (kinda disappointing, but that’s ok). Next we went to Whole Foods (a huge selling point for them, I think) and ate lunch. It was such a fabulous time- a vision of what life would be like if they moved here. After lunch we toured Austin a bit, and went to Steiner Ranch to look at model homes. After looking at some gorgeous homes, we took them to Ararat (see Eric’s post below) and feasted like kings on a wide assortment of dishes. On Sunday we went to The Salt Lick (it wouldn’t be an Austin visit without it) and to a ton more model homes. They really fell in love with a house in Circle C Ranch, which is about 5 miles from where we live!!! On Sunday night we got take-out and hung out at our house watching movies. Unfortunately, just like with Jessica, we had to work on Monday and Tuesday, so they toured around Austin and went back to the house in Circle C a bunch of times to dream about it. I’m still crossing my fingers, but when they left Tuesday night it seemed like they were very impressed with Austin- Jason even applied to some jobs while they were here! I know they aren’t planning on moving until the summer, but it was still awesome to dream about it and know that there is a chance it might come true- yippeee! We can’t say that our mission was successful, but I think “Operation: Get Sarah and Jason to Move Here” has completed phase one- get them to picture themselves living here.

This Past Weekend:

Although WE LOVE having guests, Eric and I got really behind on our every day responsibilities. This weekend was our chance to get caught up. We went grocery shopping (and spent almost 2.5 hours in the store!) and got our refrigerator stocked up again. We went to the pet store to take care of some things for the cats (now that we have a dog we had to change some stuff around with the cats, all I’ll say is that dogs are gross!) and worked on training the puppy. On Saturday morning we had some furniture delivered, so now our house is really coming together! That night we went to a house warming party for one of my co-workers and I brought Gisella’s famous Cheesy Potatoes, which are now “Ellie’s famous Cheesy Potatoes!” Thanks Gisella! It was a lot of fun and we really enjoyed mingling with my co-workers. ( Side note- Can I just say that I have the cutest husband?! I was so proud to show him off because he is such a stud! :) ) On Sunday we were planning on going car shopping, but it turns out Texas doesn’t sell cars on Sunday! So most of the day we worked on our house. We have started the huge project of staining our fence, which I think is going to take a couple of weekends to complete.

Ok, I think that pretty much brings us up to today. Tonight Nick and Emily are coming over for our Monday tradition of dinner and “24″ but before they do we are going to try to go to a couple of dealerships so we can decide on a car. I think we are going to buy a used one, but we just have to figure out what we like.

Goals for this week:
-Buy a car!
-Work on living room now that we have couches in there
-Work on training the puppy
-Get quotes for gutter installation (the rain is ruining our flower beds!)
-Get up enough nerve to ask our neighbors who did their yard (because we really like it and want to do something similar)

Love you all!