13 posts tagged “austin”

I've been cleaning out closets at my house.  Cole and I both went through our clothes and got rid of items we'll never wear again, and I went through the kids' closets with them.  I have a friend with 2 girls that I give most of Kaelin's clothes to, and Collin gets most of Brendan's clothes, but I don't have anybody to give Collin's clothes to.  When all was said and done, I had 6 big boxes of clothes that needed a home.  The obvious solution would be to take them to Goodwill, and not that Goodwill isn't a perfectly good organization, but I was looking to find somebody that could use some help right now and would benefit from receiving clothes free of charge.  I sent an email to a bunch of my friends asking if anybody knew a family that might want some of these clothes, and nobody did.  Then a friend of mine suggested giving them to Mission Possible.  She knows somebody who volunteers there, and said she could get the clothes to them.  I thought this was a wonderful solution and I hope that somebody who truly needs them receives the clothing we can no longer use.  

Last night we celebrated my birthday at The Oasis.  It is a restaurant on the lake that is known for beautiful sunset

 views.  The food is much improved.  I had fried shrimp and it was yummy!!  Cole got me a very cool cake that had a picture of the kids on it.  He did that on his own...I just told him that I definitely wanted a cake.  He remembered that I like the Target bakery much better than Wal-Mart or HEB, and he got it from Target.  A lot of our friends were there and it was a fun night.  The Oasis caught on fire a few years ago, and when it was rebuilt it grew... a lot.  The place is huge now, and there is a bar with a dance floor on the third floor.  In an unusual twist, we weren't the oldest people in the place.  There were a lot of people older than us who likely went straight from work to the restaurant and started drinking.  They were great entertainment!  We had a lot of fun watching their smooth moves.  ; )

I'm sure you've all wondered how to get from Austin, TX to Sydney, Australia.  Well according to Google Maps you go to Seattle, and then kayak 7906 miles across the Pacific Ocean.  That's right, kayak.  

I'm sitting on Sunnie's porch looking at the Pacific Ocean as I write this blogpost.  This has been a very relaxing and fun trip so far.  Last night we walked into Laguna Beach and hit a couple of clothing stores looking for souvenirs.  Bari bought some shirts for her kids and I bought myself a Laguna Beach hoodie.  Then we ate at a Mexican restaurant that was on the beach and the view was fantastic.  The Mexican food in Laguna Beach is different than Mexican food in Texas, but it was good.  

My favorite season of the year is Spring.  Spring is when baby animals are born, flowers are blooming, and everything is turning green again.  In Texas, Spring is when the bluebonnets bloom.  Texas never looks more beautiful than during bluebonnet season.  

Forbes.com has compiled a list of America's Drunkest cities.  The top cities are Milwaukee, Minneapolis, Columbus (Ohio), Boston, and coming in at number 5...Austin, Texas.  Another Texas city, San Antonio just missed the top 10...it was ranked number 12.  I didn't look any further.  There may be more Texas cities on the list. 

What I find interesting about Austin being number 5 on that list is that I think of Austin as a very fit city.  There are tons of hiking trails, parks, gyms, and lots of places to go and do things outdoors.  Being fit and drunk really don't go together. 

Anyway...I always find those polls interesting.  : )

If you saw the area where I live, you would think it is just a quiet little suburb northwest of Austin.  It's a great place to raise a family...very green, lots of parks and family oriented things to do, great shopping, etc.  At first glance there is nothing terribly exciting about it.  But that is an illusion...there is never a dull moment.  Today, we were trying to finish our planning meeting that we started 2 weeks ago that got interrupted with the news of Audrey, and we got word that there was a gas leak right outside the church.  They are widening the road, and I guess something was hit, and it caused a gas leak.  This was right smack dab in the middle of rest time, so we ran in our rooms, sat kids up and told them to get up and put their coats on, and lined them up to go wait outside for the all clear.  We didn't get the all clear before school was out, so parents had to go a completely different way to pick up their kids.  It was crazy, but everyone handled it very well.  The kids didn't even ask very many questions.  It all worked out okay...I guess they've taken care of the gas leak.  Hopefully things will be back to normal tomorrow. 

La, la, la, la, la, la, LA, la.    : )

I'm not even sure where to start with my DC*B weekend post.  So much to say...so many wonderful memories.  I guess I'll start with Austin. 

Last Thursday night - La Zona Rosa.  Two of my friends from church and their teenage daughters went with me to this one.  I was made fun of quite a bit because I insisted that we get to the venue by 3 to make sure we were on the front row.  There was nobody in line yet, so we went to Hut's Hamburger's and got something to eat.  After that we went back to the venue and sat in Elizabeth's air conditioned vehicle until people started to line up.  To make a long story short, we were on the front row...right at Mark's feet.  When the concert was over I was thanked by the people who had previously made fun of me for going to the trouble that I go to in order to be on the front row.  Meghan and Morgan (the teenage girls) were hoping to get to meet the DC*B guys and David had announced during the concert that they were going to hang around.  I saw Toni and asked her if they were going to come out and hang for a bit and we ended up getting to go to the meet and greet.  M & M were in hog heaven!  They were so excited that they got to meet those guys!  I, of course, enjoyed getting to talk to them, too.  We took pictures of each of them with the girls and I have a feeling that pretty much everyone within a 60 mile radius has heard about it.  : )   There were a few technical glitches, but the show was fantastic!!  Here are some pics from the Austin show:

 

 

Onto Dallas.  The House of Blues show in Dallas was the best sounding of the 3 that I went to last weekend.  Bari, Jamie, Lori, and I went to this one.  We got to spend the day together and just that was a ton of fun.  I had gotten some new Crowderhead shirts made, and everyone seemed to like them.  I even read somebody's blog where he mentioned the "3 ladies in homemade Crowderhead shirts."  Newsflash for this blogger, though, those shirts were NOT homemade.  I paid somebody to make them for us.  But anyway, while we were waiting in line, we ended up helping the merch guy.  Bari helped him a LOT and she ended up being the first person inside the music hall.  This time we were over on the other side of the stage in front of Mike D.  We got to go to the meet and greet after this show, too, and all the DC*B guys signed our shirts.  Now they are complete.  ; )  They are filming the live shows for a DVD that is in the works, and the camera guy was at the M&G.  He filmed us in our Crowderhead shirts, and it would just be so cool if we make the final cut!  Jeremy was watching him film us and he made a comment about "Gomers turned Crowderheads."  I found this quite amusing and I hope that comment is on the DVD.  Anyway...pictures from Dallas:

 

 

And now for my last Remedy show.  San Antonio - Floore's Country Store.  DC*B was the first Christian band to play at this venue and they sold it out!!  How awesome is that??  This really wasn't even much of a venue...it was more like somebody put a stage in their backyard.  I enjoyed it, though.  Except for the heat.  But it was worth it.  My cousin, Kelly, joined me for this show.  She lives in San Antonio and it was her birthday present from me.  I am the coolest cousin EVER!!  ; )  But back to DC*B - I love watching them.  There is so much going on up on that stage (most of which I know nothing about) and they seem to be changing instruments every song.  They're a talented group of guys.  The whole show is wonderful, but without question my 2 favorite songs that they perform live are "Never Let Go," and "Surely We Can Change."  Those 2 songs just kind of stop me in my tracks - they are sooo powerful.  This time we had to hang around until after the meet and greet in order to talk to them.  Kelly had never met them and I wanted to tell them all good-bye, so we waited.  It was, of course, well worth the wait.  Kelly got her picture taken with each of the guys, and I got to say my good-byes, so it was all good.  And now...pics from San Antonio:

 

 

 

So that's my Crowder weekend in a nutshell.  Great music, great friends (and cousins), great memories, great band, and one amazing God.  : )  

It's been 4 days since I saw Keith Urban in concert.  I've had a lot going on and I haven't been back on to update.  I also don't think a simple blogpost can do the show justice.  It was just so...incredible...among many other words I could use to describe it.  I'll see what I can do...

Picture this...dark arena, very large white screen behind the stage, a picture of a heart (the one from his CD) that gets bigger every time it beats, and the very loud beating of said heart.  Several seconds go by and all we see is the heart getting bigger on the screen.  And then from behind the drum set, we see the man himself being lifted up from behind the stage.  We can see the silhouette of him with his guitar slung over his shoulder and he's kind of looking down.  And then when he's level with the stage he steps off the little thing that lifted him up onto the stage.  He walks (or swaggers, as Angie called it) to his microphone and starts singing, "Once In a Lifetime."   Very nice touch with the whole rockstar entrance.

His stage is not your ordinary stage.  He has the ordinary stage and then there's a walkway that covers the entire length of the floor and leads to a small circular stage.  When I saw all of it I wondered just how much he would use the additional stage area and I really thought he'd walk out there once, maybe twice.  Oh no...he was all over the place.  When he sang, "Raining on Sunday" he walked out to the middle of the walkway with his guitar and sang the song by himself...well, him and the entire audience.  It was amazing...I recorded a little bit of it on my cell phone because the audience was sooo loud!  He and his band used the little circle stage to do an acoustic set. 

He played for 2 full hours, and he left the stage for about 2 minutes during that time - not counting the encore.  I think he did every song on Love, Pain, and the Whole Crazy Thing, as well as many songs from his other CDs.  And they all sounded awesome!!  During the time that he left the stage there was a drum line on there playing the end of "I Told You So."  I had never seen that before, but it fit that song perfectly and it was pretty cool.  I can't imagine how those drummers must have felt!! 

You are probably wondering where the pictures are. Well, I don't have any of the concert.  The Erwin Center has a no camera policy, and it was raining when we got there, and we were 30 minutes later than we had planned to be, so I decided not to try to take it in because I didn't want to have to take it back to Angie's car.  As it turned out, there were tons of cameras.  But I really don't think you could capture the energy of a Keith Urban show in a picture.  Video maybe, but pictures, no way. 

Oh, and on the way to the concert Angie and I stopped at The Domain and went to the Apple Store and played with iPhones.  Very, very cool!!  I will have one someday! 

All in all it was a great night.  Dinner at California Pizza Kitchen was yummy, iPhones live up to the hype, our seats were great, and seeing Keith Urban live was just amazing.  I've been waiting for a couple of years to go to a Keith Urban concert and it was worth the wait.  If you have a chance, go see him...he's awesome live!!  : )

I'll leave you with the one picture we took...it's of Angie and Me in the car before we went inside.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I'm editing this post the day after I finally got it posted.  I completely forgot to mention the "cell phone wave."  He had everybody get out their cell phones and hold them up in the air and do the wave...twice!  It was actually very cool.  He made a comment about how we paid all that money to go to a concert and then we were the entertainment.  Funny guy, that Keith Urban!!  : )

Kaelin's recital was the cutest thing EVER!!  She was so good on her ballet!!  She did very well on her tap, too, but she nailed the ballet.  I uploaded the videos that my wonderful sister-in-law Amy took.  They are in the Videos section.  Check them out when you can and be sure the volume is on.  Kaelin is the shortest one in the class...it's easy to find her.  She spotted us while she was doing her tap, and you can see her looking out into the audience right at us. It's kind of funny!  Here are a couple of pictures from the recital:

 

Brendan is playing baseball again.  This time he's on the All-star team.  He has turned into quite the baseball player.  Pretty much every time he's up to bat he gets on base, and he can catch just about anything that is hit to him.  It is so hot outside, but his team handled their first tournament weekend pretty well.  I have some pictures, but I don't have them uploaded to the computer yet.  I will get some of those up in the near future. 

Tomorrow I leave for Atlantafest.  I couldn't fly out of Austin for less than $400, so I am meeting Jamie in Dallas and we are taking a SW flight to Birmingham, then driving the additional 2 hours to Atlanta.  Adding another night in a hotel, a rent car, and gas for said car is still way cheaper than flying out of Austin.  And I get 2 more credits on Southwest!!  I'm close to getting a free ticket - yay!  We are going to meet my friend, Karen, for dinner tomorrow night.  I haven't seen Karen in years, and we recently got back in touch.  I'm very excited to see her...and to spend yet another crazy weekend with my concert buddies!  Should be a fun-filled weekend!

I'm sure I will update with pictures as time allows over the weekend.  I'm not even there yet, but I can tell you that you will see this word a lot in my posts - HOT!