Dog Days in Austin

John and I went for a little joggity jog on the hike and bike trail along Town Lake tonight. I should say for the record that Town Lake is now called Lady Bird Lake, but it's not catching on. I don't think it's one of things like people still calling Reagan Airport National (ahem, Didi and Broc, wink, wink). It's just that Town Lake has a nice ring to it and Lady Bird reminds me of a little ballerina in a music box spinning to a trinkety tune.

Back to the jog though... it was so nice! Although Hurricane Ike ravages Houston and caused windstorms in Ohio and Pennsylvania, Austin reaped the benefits of the weather system and has just had the most beautifully cool, breezy weather we've seen all summer long. The trail itself is about 200 yards from my house and is a bit like the Esplanade in Boston, but gravel/sand not concrete and instead of running nicely by the side of their owner, the dogs own the trail! Seeing how much fun they have is quite a sight. They jump in and out of the water, they play fetch, the run in front of you, the play together. Since Candy didn't like the water or other dogs, I absolutely could not imagine her there, but all the labs and pit bulls and boxers and spaniels that seem so common here in Austin were having a blast. I'm surprised their owners get a jog in at all with all the dog fun to be had.

On a related note, I've become obsessed with looking at adoptable dogs posted on Craigslist. This guy has especially won my consideration, though he already weighs 75 pounds! Isn't he cute? I think so (obviously).

A lot of the dogs that people post about are strays, but even more are family dogs that have been loved and cared for 2-8 years in some cases and then the family decides to give them away. I'm surprised by this! I don't think I've ever known anyone who has actually had a dog for an extended period of time and then given it away. This is why I am not getting a dog (at least, why I'm trying to fight the urge to get a dog). My life may remain somewhat unpredictable for the next few years with my plans to finish my Masters and the fact that I like flying to Pittsburgh for weeks at a time whenever possible.

So for now at least, I will be dogsitting. This weekend is my first official charge: Pickle! The dog of my friends Greg and Amy. I'm starting out small... just 24 hours and just 15 pounds of terrier. He's no hound dog and he's no Candy Girl, but he'll be a nice companion for the weekend and I'll definately be taking him to the dog trail, I mean the hike and bike trail. =)

And one more great thing about Town Lake.... Obama likes it too!

Too Much to Write About!

I have sorely neglected my poor blog. I probably have lost all of my faithful readers but since I can't fall asleep, I will once again resurrect "Alexis in Texas" and make an effort to add the fun things that have been going on.

Reasons why I haven't blogged in forever:

1. I was on vacation! Aug 5-12, John and I trekked all over the Pacific NW of the states and a little of Canada, our great neighbor to the north. We loved Vancouver the best, but got to see friends in Seattle and Portland. It was just as fresh and gorgeous as I thought it would be and I could totally picture myself living in all those cities, most of all Vancouver and Seattle. We attended the beautiful wedding of John's law school friend Alan and his lovely bride Helen. It rained during their ceremony, which we thought was fitting for Seattle nuptials. As we were returning to our seats after the bride and groom danced to that great song, "I'm with you always...... I'm with you rain or shiiiiiiiiine" we looked outside at the Seattle bay/harbor/body of water and saw a complete rainbow stretching from one side of the sky to the other. When we looked back at the bride and groom, they were being rushed out to the deck by their photographers. A beautiful night.

2. I was finishing up my job: We had a great end of the summer with our campers. Our second session involved a number of families who were related to each other. It would be like I went to camp with the Gillis', the Arch's and the Murrer's or something. It was hell to get rid of them at the end of the night, though we loved that the parking lot was an equally thrilling social scene for them. =) We had a lovely final graduation, which John attended... All the kids thought he was really tall and one little boy Erick stared at him while he set up the projector for 5 straight minutes, I think trying to figure out how a body that tall functions. I should add that the tallest dad we had was probably 5'6". We also got to take a group of the especially well-behaved and involved kids (though it pained us to leave anyone out) on a field trip to a local family-owned water park on Lake Travis. It's like you dropped a 50' net over part of Sandcastle and got rid of the rest, then replaced the Ohio River for beautiful Lake Travis, and that's where we were. It was mega fun and very hard to tear 20 kids away at the end of the day. But they all fell asleep on the way home... Job well done staff.

3. I am embroiled in an intense job search! While temporary summer jobs are awesome and pay the summer bills, they do end, meaning the search for a new one was on before the last one ended. How responsible of me, right? I've been applying to all the social work related jobs I can find online and even applied for some UT jobs that weren't really in my field. I had one interview that was a no-go... a research related job as a reading specialist that would only grant me 40 minutes a day with kids and the rest would be paper-work. No thanks! With everything being done online, it's hard to know which resumes are actually being read and which online applications are really reaching someone's eyeballs on the other end. Such is a job search in a new city. But I have a very promising interview tomorrow, which is precisely why I am not sleeping right now! It's 1.5 miles from my house and would involve half day as a school social worker and half day as an after-school program coordinator. Plus, my day would start at 10 am, which I rather love. Wish me luck!

4. I was at my BFF's wedding! Kate and Dylan got married in Pittsburgh over Labor Day weekend, so I made it into a 12 day trip. The wedding involved get togethers Thursday night through Sunday night and required a whole day of sleep Monday for recovery purposes. It was so delightful to have all of my best girls from high school in town with their significant others in tow. I've made lots of nice friends since high school and all, but the Lebo girls are so special to me and to see an especially special one embark on a new chapter in life with such a wonderful fellow was overwhelming. I was misty all through the rehearsal and the rehearsal dinner, but by the actual service on Sunday, I was all clear. AND my mom was there on the dancefloor with all of our other friends' parents, which was really neat. I am looking forward to the other weddings coming up - I know why people love wedding season! I stayed home an extra week and got to see Nanna, Dad, Mom and Bill of course, Anne, some friends from Pitt and some other friends from Lebo who live in Pittsburgh. It was great to spend some time at home base before launching into my next phase of Austin living. Coming back to Austin made me realize that I do feel very at home here and that I like it here a whole lot! It also reminded me how great Pittsburgh is and how the gift of teleporting would be a huge plus for me for the next few years.

Well, I'll be giving sleep another shot here now. Enjoy reading and happy September!

Sigh of Relief!

I am officially settled into my new place! It feels really good to be here. I am now reunited with all of my personal belongings that have been baking to a crisp in a storage unit all summer. Our sublet was great, and it was nice to see so much of John, but now that I'm in my new place with my two new and wonderful roommates, I can throw my anchor overboard.

The new house is awesome! We have the lower level of a lovely two story house with a gigantic deck, gardens, a compost pile, a fire pit, a driveway (a huge perk after three months of street parking), washer and dryer (another huge perk after three months of hauling everything to the laundromat for 3 hours a weekend), concrete floors, a plethora of windows that let in lots of natural light, a piano that belongs to my roommate and can be played by me anytime, and my very own room.

Tonight I was forced to kill three unwanted intruders to my new abode. Let's just say they are of the large insect world and seem to be more common in Texas than Pennsylvania. I like my two human roommates a lot though, and I don't think I will need to fwap them with my slipper at all.

One is from Italy, but lived in Germany for about ten years, and thus has an interesting accent. She runs her own business of executive cultural and language training. She's really into salsa dancing and has very good posture - a good influence for me! She's really outgoing and vivacious and brings a very lively presence to the house.

The other one is my age and has been in Austin for college and beyond. She is a seamstress, but working as a photographer and graphic designer for a metal working craftsman shop until she can make enough money on her own as a seamstress. She's on the quieter side which is a nice balance... She also swims every night in Barton Springs pool, only a hop, skip, and a jump away, so that's fun too. She also brews her own beer, makes her own ice cream, and cooks lots of yummy smelling things.

I foresee us getting along pretty well. There's enough space for all of us and they seem to be pretty easy going and communicative about house stuff.

The move ended up taking two whole days... I missed the second day of lugging heavy furniture across town in triple digit temperatures because we had a field trip for work. I got to spend all day Friday on Town Lake, canoeing, swimming, snorkling, and sharing a really special day with our campers. I'm always so proud of them when we venture into the world and they get to interact with people. The canoe instructors and trip leaders really love our group - I think they think our kids are generally hilarious and lots of fun. As with last session, a highlight for the kids was seeing turtles sunning themselves on logs along the water's edge, as well as an ornate crayfish claw they found while snorkling.

On top of moving, John had the bar exam this week. It was in Dallas and was two and half days long. After seeing how much he had to study, I'm reaffirmed in my calling as a social worker. No law school in my future! It's customary among his buddies to take a post-bar exam trip to unwind and reward yourself. Lucky for us, his friend is getting married in Seattle this coming weekend, so we'll be trekking up to Vancouver on Tuesday, to Seattle for the weekend, and then to Portland on Sunday. I have good friends in Seattle and Portland who we'll be spending time with. I'm so excited to see the Pacific Northwest - I just picture it being so crisp and fresh. Can't wait!

Things I Like About Austin

1. A plethora of Mexican beer choices. I never understood those commercials that talked up beer as refreshing until I moved to a ridiculously hot climate. And the Mexicans know how to make a smooth refreshing beer. I'm glad for the options!!

2. Cheeseburgers. Austin does them well. I've always been really particular and not really a fan, but I now crave cheeseburgers from P.Terry's, a drivethrough place that only serves burgers, milkshakes, and cookies. They have the right idea of what makes a balanced meal!

3. Fresh, cheap fruit. Since we're closer to tropical, fruit-growing regions, more fruit is in season for longer and transportation costs aren't as high, meaning you can get a big thing of strawberries that stay fresh for a week for $2 or less. Hooray!

4. Weirdos. There's a whole theme of "Keep Austin Weird" and people are certainly abiding by it. There are the "dragrats," young people who choose the life of homelessness and dirty but creative clothing ensembles.

5. Tattoos. I myself don't think I'd ever get a tattoo, but Austin is ripe with really amazing tattoo artists and the people of Austin are their canvas. So if you go swimming, it's like going to a body art gallery. It's hard not to stare and to fight the urge to photograph some of the more unique ones. Some are really silly, like a map of Texas with a star where Austin is. Come on now.

6. Barton Springs. It's this giant natural springs pool that is like 40 degress Farenheit all year round and about the size of two consecutive football fields. Sounds chilly, but after lying in the sun dripping with sweat, jumping in and swimming around just hits the spot. Also, tattoo- and weirdo-gazing makes for a fun afternoon.

7. Nice people. I've met a good bit so far, mainly through John's really good friends that live here, Greg and Gentry. They couldn't be nicer fellows and they have a very warm and down-to-earth group of friends. It's made it so much easier to feel like I'm making friends.

8. House concerts. I'm still not sure if I like house concerts or not, but I'll put it on here because I'm pretty sure it's unique to the Austin experience, but I might be wrong. So Austin is overflowing with singer/songwriters and all manner of musicians hoping to find a faithful following. So they elicit friends and acquaintances to have people over and then at some point in the night, everyone settles into the living room and they have an intimate concert and showcase their stuff. Last night, John and I went to see a folk singer, Danny Schmidt. The host of the party couldn't be nicer and more accepting of opening her home to strangers. It was a neat crowd, which included Danny's parents and a beautiful dog named Sequoia. I sort of felt like I was eavesdropping on one of his private jam sessions, but it was a neat opportunity to get to talk to him and hear him really up close.

I'm not going to make this an even ten, but instead leave it open to add to as I think of things.

Oh! Something that I don't like about Austin - whoever built the showers here must have thought that only people under 5 foot would ever use them. You have to duck down to get under the shower head! This is a characteristic of the old apartments that is both strange, frustrating, and somewhat charming.

Happy Father's Day!!

An Austintatious Week

Haha. I stole that spelling of ostentatious from a lawn care truck. Creative. The second week of the job was good - we have a full roster of chilluns for the first session. I had a bit of culture shock trying to communicate with the parents who are mostly Spanish speaking with varying degrees of English skills. It felt a bit like being a student studying in a foreign country all over again! But I'm sure communicating with the kids will be easier and it's motivating me to learn more conversational Spanish. My friend K is going to Costa Rica this summer to do a Spanish immersion program so she can do social work more effectively in California. I think I'll need to do something like that someday soon.

One of very favorite bands the INDIGO GIRLS played in Austin this week. John politely declined my invitation and went to see a play that he'd been wanting to see that I wasn't as keen on. It was sort of neat to go on separate dates alone. The Girls played at Stubbs BBQ, which I thought would just be a tiny BBQ joint, which surprised me. Turns out that Stubbs has a big backyard called the "Dustbowl" that holds about 1000 people. It was a pretty diverse crowd, with couples of all genders and ages and styles and all very nice.

The opening act was Brandi Carlile, who has an amazing soulful voice and great guitar skills. She was flanked by Phil and Tim, tall, lanky twins wearing fedora style hats and similarly tattooed playing guitar. There was also a cellist named Josh who I thought was from the band "Mom" who I heard play at a house party recently, but that guy's name is Joel. I thought later that maybe it was really him and the Indigo Girls got his name wrong. Wouldn't that be terrible? But I think it was just a different skinny cellist.

Then the Indigo Girls came out! They are aging for sure and still look like they did in the 80's but are pleasantly consistent in their performance. They played some classics but new stuff too and of course, they entertained the masses in a sing-a-long fashion, since the entire audience knows all the words. It was so nice! And the Dustbowl is very hot, but these gusts of wind would come up over the stage and combined with some of my favorite music, it was glorious! Very nice time.

http://www.stubbsaustin.com/

I Got a Job!

John and I attended a wedding in Tulsa this weekend and drove through the rather unlovely city of Dallas, through the surprisingly beautiful hill country of Oklahoma and arrived at our destination. All weekend I told my tale of woe about how I really needed to find a job. Monday, I applied till my fingers hurt from attaching so many cover letters to so many emails. I was about to wrap up for the day and thought, "I haven't check Craigslist in a while. I'll do that."Wouldn't you know, there was a neat looking job description for a case manager for a summer day camp run by a youth foundation in the city that serves a poor community in SE Austin. I sent off a resume and cover letter and heard back in two hours! I had an interview the next morning and had the job by 11 am. You're probably thinking, how impressive! Wow! Attagirl! That's just fine, but please take note that they were desperate for anyone really and had me working immediately after my interview.

The organization has numerous summer programs and this one is centered around instilling a strong sense of self and healthy decision-making processes in 8-13 year olds so they don't know up to be murderers and drug dealers. (What? That's what they said!). Their funding had been re-approved by the city the week before, so they were moving fast and had to get the word about the camp out to the neighborhood kids. All seemed to be going well UNTIL the executive director, Mona, asked me to be a clown for an assembly the following morning at an elementary school to tell them about the camp. I thought, Hmm, I would really rather not. Though I said, Sure, I'll see you tomorrow.

So this is what I looked like at 6:15 am. Oh, did I forget to mention that? Yes, the one who LOVES sleeping in had to get up at 5:45, paint her face, and show up to a school by 7 am. My director was late and I had to entertain the kids in the lunch room for 30 minutes by myself. I was a hit though. If you're ever feeling, you know, just average, slap on a clown suit and you'll feel much more unique.

You know how they say that you shouldn't do things well if you know want to be asked to do them again? Well apparently I'm a good damn clown, because Mona asked me to do it again on Saturday at our Father's Day Parade. I quickly tried to pass it off to the other person who shares my role. A nylon clown suit and face paint OUTSIDE? A school gym was one the thing, the Texas heat is another entirely. On a good note, the kids were ADORABLE and I can't wait for the camp to start. They're almost all Hispanic, so I'll be brushing up my Spanish mucho mucho. We had a planning day today and the weather was gorgeous so we sat outside on picnic tables and created plans for the summer. Yay for employment!

First Post

Hi Y'all!

So I just moved across country and am currently separated from lots of family and friends, but of course, am experiencing all sorts of new things that I want to share..... So, although boyfriend J looks askance at me when I mention blogging, I am doing it. So there.

We are FINALLY in our sublet. It seems as though it has taken forever. And unlike last summer, this sublet has been emptied of the personal items of the former tenants and has room for us to feel at home and make it our own... that is before we move into our own places in August!

There have been some hilarious stories so far and lots of good food... So I'm going to make some separate posts to commemorate the last few weeks of packing, goodbyes, road trips, new cities, new people, and new things.

Enjoy!