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!