Our good friend Eric didn't feel like he got enough quality time with us while we were in California, so he came all the way out to see us here when we got back. He also went to his cousin's wedding since he was in town already.
We didn't have a lot of time, but we did manage to show him some sights around town which he filmed (his profession at which he is very talented: see EricMaddox.com!)
Check out more photos at the gallery.
Anyone and everyone who is available, let's meet at Claimjumper Thursday night for old time's sake. Michael and I will be there by 6:30. Call for details. 512-965-3481.
Hope to see you there ;)
Here we go, we're returning to California for our second visit! We hadn't been planning on repeating a trip home so soon, but a couple of important events convinced us otherwise!
Our good friend Rory's wedding is this Saturday at his parents' amazing home in Foresthill. Michael is a groomsman. We met Rory's bride, Astrid, a year ago at Anna's going away party. She is a beautiful gal we'd love to get to know better. All I can say is Rory is a different person since having met her; I don't think I've ever seen him so happy, and obviously giddy in love. Congrats you two!
Sunday is our Grandma's 80th birthday party! Can't think of a better reason to come home and celebrate such a joyous occasion. We love you, Grandma.
So, we'll be in CA Thursday (Sept 13) through Sept 25. This time we're bringing along a surprise guest - ANNA! I hope we get a chance to see ya'll.
Sammie gets a new lease on life! I know for sure we made the right decision, even though we miss her at times. It seems joining a new "pack" was just what she needed to shape up.
It also sounds like she's receiving wonderful care, and is well on her way to finding a new family. What a wonderful organization. We are very grateful to them.
Tuesday afternoon Michael and I packed up the Matrix and took off toward Houston. This was our first official "road trip" since moving here, and I have to say it was a little strange to take a trip like this that didn't involve I-5, the California coast, Reno or Tahoe.
But where we ended up was pretty unbelievable, and completely unexpected. The Woodlands is about 30 miles north of Houston, and to call it a Master-Planned community is simply an understatement. It was beautiful and classy, sort of Carmel meets Tahoe City. We loved it all, and we barely scratched the surface. And as usual, our pictures don't do it justice. Another new camera is coming soon, I can only hope.
[EDIT - Picture removed]
The only downside to the destination was that we were only there for about 24 hours. We went for Michael's work. His company just opened a satellite warehouse near the area, and he had to go set up the technical stuff. (That is the proper jargon, is it not?) I went along for the ride and the free hotel room, but mostly because OnStar was on duty yet again.
After a three hour road trip through the winding pine-tree lined roads of East Texas (via hwy 290) we arrived at our hotel. A quick trip down the street led us to the Town Center where we ate at The Cheesecake Factory.
The next morning, Michael went to work while I explored the shopping district which is made up two separate malls - indoor and out. And all so, so, so beautiful. I took a free trolley ride around the entire downtown area and got my own personalized tour from a very enthusiastic driver (I was the only person on the bus). After work, Michael joined me and we went to a real Irish pub that they say they actually brought over from Ireland - meaning the carpentry as well as some of the original carpenters, along with all of the authentic items inside. Of course, we had to have a Guinness.
The entire Town Center is surrounded by a man-made waterway which has water taxis running (well, slowly cruising) back and forth. We hopped on and got another tour. The area is still under construction, but already very impressive. I could easily spend a month there, or the rest of my life, if only I could afford it.
We drove by downtown Houston on our way home, so we saw the nighttime lights of the city, but didn't make any stops. The long and lonely I-10 was beckoning us into the darkness which would lead us to our home, far away. And driving down the road I got this feeling that I only left just yesterday ... yesterday... Country roads. Take me home.
We pulled in last night around 11 pm ... a mere 30 hours after we left, and 350 miles round trip.
More pictures for the people.
Ok, on a lighter note from that last post, let me tell you about Bob and Jer's trip. First, I can't even tell you how great it was to have them here. Since Michael and I work at home and it's hard to meet new people, we really don't have any friends yet here in Austin outside of family. All of our other relationships have indeed become "long-distance."
Michael and Bob became friends while playing on the same little league team together in '91. Maybe it was their pitcher/catcher relationship that predestined them to remain friends for life. Michael met Jer during his freshman year of high school when they ran track together. By then, I had entered the picture, so in a sense I grew up with all three of them.
Bob and Jer are like the brothers I never had. There is something unique and irreplaceable about the friends you make during that phase of life - as teeanagers. No other relationship will ever compare. If I were to try to recollect all of the memories and life experiences we shared together it would literally take years. But it would be a blast ...
Anyway, back to the trip. We picked up Bob Friday morning (Aug 24). That night we took him to one of our favorite places, The Oasis on Lake Travis. Saturday we went on a short hike down the Barton Springs greenbelt then spent the day on the water watching Bear swim. (I have some pics from my waterproof camera, but I need to scan them). That night we made our surprise pick-up at the airport and Jer joined the gang. We shocked their senses by taking them down to Sixth Street.
Sunday morning we went to the legendary Gospel Brunch at Stubb's BBQ. The entertainment left a bit to be desired, but the food was great! That afternoon we introduced the boys to the Alamo Drafthouse (one of our favorites) and Texas' own Central Market where we enjoyed a wine tasting.
Monday night we celebrated Bob's 30th birthday with some more delicious BBQ from Bone Daddy's House of Smoke. Another memorable event, especially for me as I felt a little out of place as the only female patron.
The rest of the week we sort of laid low around the house, working, watching movies, playing guitar hero, playing real instruments, and having our own brand of bbq's.
Thursday we spent the day at my parents' palatial pool, channeling our inner-children again, and eating, um ... more bbq. I guess we're not very creative.
That night we took the boys out to the property, and I think things began to make a little more sense, in terms of why we would decide to move here. It's difficult to get a feel for the city in such a short time, and the fact that our current rental home is in what we like to call the "barrio" doesn't give the best representation of what things will eventually be like. All in good time.
We concluded the week with dinner at the Hula Hut on Lake Austin on Friday night. This time it was a "Mexonesian" theme instead of bbq. Just so they wouldn't miss out on the full extent of our legendary Texas weather, a good thunderstorm rolled in while we were finishing up, dumping what seemed like 3 feet of rain in about an hour, and treating us to a memorable lightning display on our drive home.
It was a really fun week, and one we won't soon forget. As always, pictures are at the gallery.
Last week we had a reunion of epic proportions at our house. Bob, one of Michael's two best friends from high school, scheduled a trip out to see us for his 30th birthday. As a surprise for Bob, we convinced Jerimy - the other piece of this triple threat - to come out and see us as well. Through various white lies and admirable acting on our part, we managed to keep it a secret until the moment we pulled up to the airport terminal to pick Jer up. It was - as they say - priceless.
The last time these three had a reunion such as this was when Bob lived in New Orleans, almost exactly 6 years ago. The day Michael was supposed to return home, I got a phone call early in the morning.
"I won't be flying in today," he said. "It may be a few days. Just turn on the tv."
"Why?" I asked, very confused, having just woken up. At first I thought he was joking, just wanting to extend his visit. "What are you talking about?"
"They've closed down all the airports."
"All the airports? I don't get it, in Louisiana? Wait, the whole country? Why? What is going on?" I kept asking questions he seemed unable to answer.
"Just turn on the tv and I'll call you back in a little while."
I turned on the television just in time to see an airplane crash into Tower Two of the World Trade Center. I spent the rest of the day in bed. Michael spent an extra week in Louisiana. And all around us, the country began spinning out of control.
So we had a wonderful anniversary weekend, beginning last Thursday. We started off the day the way any couple would, really, with a visit to a surgeon to discuss removing my implants. 'What?!', you say? 'But they're hardly even noticeable!'
I know, I know, but they've been driving me crazy since the day I had them put in. And they really haven't given me the quality of life improvement I was hoping for. They may be small, but the battery pack and leads under the skin just rub me the wrong way. I'm talking of course about the spinal cord stimulator system that I had put in last year. I guess you would just call it one implant though I have two incisions for the two surgical sites. To put it mildly, it hasn't helped at all, so I've decided to have it taken out.
Anyway, back to the anniversary. You may remember we've booked a cruise in November as the actual celebration - a sort of commemorative trip, since that's what we did for our honeymoon. And the hurricanes should explain why we waited til November to travel to the Caribbean.
But it seemed a shame to let the occasion go without some type of celebration, so this weekend we thought we'd go out of town on a little mini-vacation. Only we really didn't feel like traveling since we have so many other trips going on this year. Instead, we stayed in downtown Austin, which turned out to be just perfect. A little "gettin' to know ya" for this new city we now call home.
We stayed at the Embassy Suites on South Congress, Friday through Sunday. After letting them know it was our anniversary, we found ourselves in one of their best rooms - a corner suite with spectacular views of the city, Capitol building and river. The first night we enjoyed the hotel happy hour and reminisced about how we stayed at an Embassy Suites resort for our first anniversary - where I'm pretty sure I broke my butt by doing a canon ball into the shallow end of the pool. Ah, the memories. I kept the festivities under control at this happy hour though, and we didn't go swimming.
On Saturday we walked all around town, beginning with lunch at a new Irish pub we found in the warehouse district. Very enjoyable, but too dim to get any good pics. After that, we hiked the rest of the 14 blocks to the Capitol and enjoyed a self-guided tour like regular old tourists. That afternoon we did go swimming, sans canon balls.
Saturday night we hit the town. We started at the historic Driskill Hotel on Sixth Street. We enjoyed a piano concert in their lounge. Next, we went to the Speakeasy, back down in the warehouse district. This is our favorite find so far. There is a rooftop terrace, with a great view of the city and tons of big loungy couch-type seating with big pillows. Finally, we had a bite to eat at a place called Saba next to the Cedar Street Courtyard, where perhaps the best 80s cover band ever to play the earth was rockin' out, mullets blowing in the breeze of the fans on stage. By then it was midnight, a good two hours past our bedtime, so we called it a night.
Sunday we walked all around the retro shopping district on South Congress ("SoCo") and enjoyed another great band at an original coffee shop named Jo's. Can't recall the name of the band, but they were probably the best music we heard all weekend. We finished the day by visiting the legendary Whole Foods downtown, and having lunch at the Waterloo Ice House.
Ok, I'd say that's more documentation of a weekend than anyone would ever want or need. We had a lot of fun, but believe it or not, we're about to have an even better weekend coming up, because our best friend in the world - Bob Sherwood - is coming to visit. CAN'T WAIT!!
PICS FROM THIS WEEKEND AT THE GALLERY.
Today is our 10th anniversary; our story has been 15 years in the making ... more than half our lives.
I thought this would be the perfect opportunity to share a little bit of our history, and I've been thinking about this posting for weeks. But what I've discovered is there is just way too much to share in one sitting (or in my case, standing). So for the next few weeks, I'd like to reminisce on our lives together. Not just me and Michael, but all of our friends and family as well who have helped shape the past 15 years.
Michael and I met in 1992, the summer before our Freshman year of high school. For some reason, I remember exactly what I was thinking the first time I saw him. It's permanently embedded in my memory, in a pretty blue color and very straight lines. Oh wait, I know why.
August 24, 1992. (Click the image to read, I'm very embarrassed but you are worth it, my faithful blog readers). I, in all of my 14-year old dramatic female angst, used to write journal entries on fancy binder paper from time to time, and yep - I still have a few. You just can't, like, make this stuff up. It's too rad. On an unrelated note, "Melissa" came to our wedding ... with her newborn baby. Oh, also for anyone who doesn't know - Michael went by Ryan (his middle name) when we met.
Michael (Ryan) and I grew up and dated in a time long before cel phones, email, or instant messaging (omg!). We lived far enough apart in those days to be "long distance", so we could rarely talk by phone because we couldn't afford the phone bill (you know, after we were old enough to have a job and such). So we wrote letters, all the time, and mailed them to each other. We spent hours drawing cute little pictures and telling each other how we were so mature, and how we would one day get married and live happily ever after. So because I love you all so much, and because I got his permission, here's a little tidbit from my future husband-to-be, dated August, 31 1993.
The memories we've created on paper are priceless to us. And I think I will share a few more with you over the next few weeks, along with some photos we've spent the past week scanning and cropping. Unfortunately, the first ten years of our relationship happened Before we had a Digital Camera (or what I call "B.D.C."). But much of the last five years has been documented on our gallery.
I don't know if this makes us narcissistic, to share so much that perhaps people don't really care about, but it seems we've just always been an open book, and it gives us great honor and pleasure to share our lives, and our home, with the people we love. So I hope you don't mind if I continue to document our past as well as our present and future. In any case, it's great for us to reminisce for the benefit of posterity. And it's easier than writing on binder paper.
*** You may want to take a break, go to the bathroom, get something to drink, this is a lot of stuff ***
To begin, we've posted 3 videos on YouTube that we made for our wedding. Keep in mind we shot these in 1997 - which meant filming actual photographs with a camera the size of a small coffee table, and manually recording them to the beat of our favorite songs of the time. In other words, it took days, and occasionally the pictures would fall down while we were filming but we were too tired and stressed out to care.
Part One is all of our baby and childhood photos, up until our first date at Freshman Homecoming, 1992. Parts Two and Three chronicle our dating years and high school life, up until our wedding photos. Caution: these videos are long and may be perceived as totally boring to anyone besides ourselves. Somehow we got away with showing all 15 minutes worth at our rehearsal dinner and at the wedding. I guess our obsession with sharing photos and personal information came long before michaelandsharon.com.
I've also posted pictures from our wedding and the preceding events on our gallery. If you promise to come back soon, I've got hundreds more photos of our friends and families to share, along with many more memories. It will just take some time, it's my anniversary, you know? We're headed out of town tomorrow for the weekend.
Anyway, it's been an awesome walk down memory lane at the Matthew house this week. We've realized how blessed we are to have all of you in our lives, many of you for the past 15 years or longer.
So Happy Anniversary, to all of us!
PS: It would mean the world to me if you would leave a comment to let us know you stopped by. You can even just say "present" or "was here" :) .
