Hubs and I are back from Alaska. It was a fabulous trip and I'll have lots to say about it once I vacation from my vacation. Blog updating will resume soon, including the monthly reading list but until then I leave you with Nyac, teh cutest otter ever:
Hubs and I are back from the Springsteen concert, but the fangirl in me has yet to stop squealing long enough to let me compose a coherent thought. Lowlights and highlights it is.
Lowlights:
I imagine that going to Las Vegas is a lot like pregnancy and childbirth. It's grueling and painful and in the end, you feel awful. And six months to a year later, you've forgotten how terrible it was and want to do it again.
At least that's my theory. The last time Hubs and I went to Las Vegas, I told him that I thought I'd had quite enough Vegas for one lifetime. That was in October of 2006. And yet, a few months ago, over dinner with our friends J and F, the subject came up and somehow I found myself saying that we were long overdue for a Vegas trip. Note to self: the next time you start to say something like that, shut the f--- up.
It's nothing against Las Vegas, it's just that every time I leave there, I feel a little worse for the wear. And it's not just the gambling and the inevitable monetary loss, but the walking (my feet hate me), the smoke (God bless my beloved town that passed a smoking ordinance), the noise, the time adjusment, and the crowds.
But despite all that, I thought I'd make a list of the best Vegas experiences from this trip.
Best trip back through time: The Boneyard. The boneyard is were all the classic Vegas signs go to rust. The museum is trying to raise enough money to restore and preserve the signs and one way they do that is by offering group tours of the Boneyard. It's money well spent.
Best food: Bouchon. If I do cave and go back to Vegas, it will be for the sourdough waffles at Bouchon. That was the most amazing brunch ever and, by Vegas standards, it was reasonably priced.
Best sleeping spot: The Bellagio. Okay, so maybe I'd go back again if I could stay at the Bellagio. The room was wonderfully swank, had a shower and a ginormous bath, but even better: automated curtains. You have not lived until you have opened your drapes simply by rolling over and pushing a button.
Best trainwreck experience: The Rio. All I can say about The Rio is OMG. From the skanky waitress costumes to the horribly choreographed "Show in the Sky," the Rio is the best place to see Vegas kitch, and I don't mean that in the good way.
Best casino to remind you how old you are: The Hard Rock Casino. The people who can now legally go to Las Vegas are eleven years younger than me and they all congregate at the Hard Rock Casino. On the plus side, I realize that I don't miss my twenties at all.
Best reason not to go back to Vegas: Readjusting to real life. In Vegas, we were never in bed before two or three in the morning and most of the time I didn't even notice. Now that that has caught up with me, I am regretting it. Twelve hours of sleep did nothing for me yesterday. I can only hope I'll fall asleep soon, but unfortunately, it's only midnight on Vegas time.
Sigh...
For someone who is self-employed and living in central Austin (with a bus stop in my front yard, no less), I drive entirely too much. I've never really given much thought to energy or oil (except to shake my fist at the gas prices), but I started reading The Omnivore's Dilemma this weekend, and all the talk about energy and oil is starting to get to me. Today was one of those typical 90 degree November days so I decided to give the keys a rest and walk anywhere I needed to go.
Trip #1: The coffee shop on the lake. Okay, this is kind of cheating. I walk to the coffee shop regularly. It's just down the hill from our house and we probably couldn't park any closer, so I tend to hoof it when I go. But today I took a little detour and followed the footpath down to the lake. After all, if I can't take advantage of my starving artisthood on a beautiful day, then what's the point.
Trip #2: The library. When I finished the morning's reading and writing, I went back home for lunch and then decided to return Suite Franciase to the library. The book wasn't due for another three days so I could have blown it off, but in the interest in being a better earth citizen, I decided to return the book on foot.
This was a tougher walk than I counted on for two reasons. First, my tennis shoes are cuter than they are comfortable. Second, on my way back home, I tried to take an alternate route which lead me straight up one of the hidden neighborhood hills. Walking, I could handle, but walking uphill, even for just a small stretch, was a bit of a challenge.
Trip # 3: Central Market (FAIL!) And just as soon as I made it back from the library, I realized that I'd put off getting whole wheat bread crumbs because I was pretty sure the only place to get them would be from Central Market or Whole Foods. And thus, failure. Sure, I could have looked up the appropriate bus maps, but it was going on 5 o'clock and it was much easier to concede failure than attempt to cross the town on public transit during rush hour.
So it didn't exactly work out as planned, but according to MapMyRun.com, I walked a total of 2.79 miles today. Not too shabby. Perhaps I'll retire the car keys more often.
Well, last week may not have ended so well, but I did manage to get the condo completely out of my hands. I am pleased to announce that the condo is on the market and I did not make a single visit over there this weekend. Hooray!
With that behind me, I used the weekend to make some more major edits on a story that has been problematic for a while. I reread some writing group notes, did some major rearranging and am now feeling a lot better about the story. It's still not quite polished, but it's getting there.
Also, I went to Stitch this weekend. Austin's fashion show and "guerrilla craft bazaar" is in its fifth year, but this is the first time I've managed to make it. It's grown considerably over the last five years and this year was housed in the Austin Convention Center.
The experience in two words: very cool. I wasn't too sure what to expect since years of church craft bazaars have left me dreading the crochet toilet tissue cozy. But I was really impressed with the quality and creativity behind the vendors at Stitch. There was some really amazing stuff. For instance, knitters will need to check out Rebecca Yaker's Sock Monkey Wearable Art.
Anyway, of course I took the opportunity to support the indie crafts and do some shopping. I picked up this screen printed tee from Harrilu. I also scored this gorgeous necklace from Austin's Ornamental Things. Natalie has many other beautiful pieces, so please check her out.
The best part about the bazaar and fashion show, though, was just seeing all the support for indie designer and artisans. Wandering through the booths I had the feeling that even though my knitting barely registers as a hobby these days and even though I don't design anything and even though my art is in a different medium entirely, we're all in this together. We're all out there, just trying to do what we love and hoping to find others who value that as much as we do. Even though I'm a writer and I spend most of my time crafting alone, this gave me a greater sense of the community that is out there. It may not be my community, but I'm very glad to have found it.
