Just a post

It’s been a while since I’ve posted a plain old, non-food, what’s-happening-in-my-world post. So here’s one for you.

Justin and I watched War of the Worlds last night. I was seriously scared the ENTIRE time. I was all curled up in a ball, leaving scratch marks on Justin’s arm, holding my breath, and occasionally covering my eyes and peeking through my fingers. I am always more scared of movies with ghosts or aliens as a main theme. I can handle serial killer movies, but show me a glimpse of an alien and I freak out. (Signs, Fire in the Sky – those movies are evil.) Still, it was a fun movie to watch, though I was seriously weirded out by the whole red weed thing. Ew.

I’m still enjoying cooking at the B&B, and I recently started helping clean and prep the rooms, too. This, my friends, is hard work. I have much respect for housekeepers and janitorial staff of the world. It’s actually pretty fun, though, to spend time in the gorgeous rooms and make everything just so. It’s so easy to work when you love your surroundings, your boss, and your daily tasks.

Roux’s life has changed recently in that he is now wearing a collar. He hates it. We never worried about it before, because he’s not allowed outside at all, but we recently had a what-if thought: What if there’s a fire in the apartment, and he finds his way out, and runs away, and he has no identifying information on him? So we bought a collar and a little metal tag that says “My name is Roux” and has our contact info on it. Someday I hope he will understand why he has to wear that itchy thing.

Justin’s still mountain biking and coming home with various injuries, though nothing serious. He did turn up in a recent issue of Texas Monthly, in an ad for Austin created by his ad agency. He posed with his bike for a photo that was a full-page spread. I’m so proud. (It was the June 2005 issue, page 173, if you’re interested.)

Probably the biggest thing going on for us right now is my niece’s quinceanera. We will be trekking westward next week with our pals Leti, Lindsay, and Chad on a 7 hour road trip to Smalltown, West Texas. I’m so excited about it: not only will we be road-tripping (which in itself sounds fun), we’ll be seeing all my family and celebrating with a reception and a dance and everything! I’ve already warned my niece that all five of us plan to embarrass her royally at the dance, by doing funky jigs with our fingers pointing in the air.

So time continues to pass here in Austin, with super-hot days and fairly-hot nights, with the occasional purchase of new itunes music and the occasional visit to a live music venue (free, of course), with friends and loved ones, with cats and koi fish, and of course, with chocolate.

5 responses to “Just a post”

  1. Okay, I have to ask, because it is the second tiem I have seen that word ~ what is a quinceanera?

  2. Hey Linda! Well, the short answer is that a quinceanera is a kind of spiritual coming-of-age ceremony in the Hispanic/Catholic community for a young girl. It happens on her 15th birthday, and in our tradition, it ends up being much like a wedding, without a groom! White dress, gifts, a mass, a reception, a dance. She kind of accepts signs of womanhood and re-declares her faith among all her family and friends.

    The long answer will come next week, when I post photos and a summary of the whole thing! 🙂

  3. Thank you Crystal! I was reading something recently that mentioned it and I was completely mystified.

  4. sounds like a great spell of life. What do you do beyond dance for a 15th coming out party? Is it family or community?

  5. It’s actually both family and community. Our whole family is invited, as well as people from the community. During the church service, there are a lot of rituals that go on…certain prayers, lots of symbolic gifts (a rosary, a bible, a crown, a necklace, earrings, ring, etc…from girl to woman kind of stuff), and my niece will kind of let the community know that she’s choosing to follow the Catholic faith, in the footsteps of Mary, and so on and so forth. Then or course, there’s food and cake and dancing. It’s fun.

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