Melyssa-with-a-Y

Living in Austin has given me a lot of things. A great job, wonderful friends, a nice house... and allergies. Ugh, the allergies. And apparently, as soon as the cold weather goes away (and it happened early this year), and the "cedar fever" starts up, I get bronchitis. Because, you know, it's not enough to just have the cedar allergy. I get the yucky green mucus (tmi? sorry!), the pain in my chest, the coughing, and the Barry White voice. Really pleasant. I could feel it coming on, so I made a pre-emptive appointment with the doc on Wednesday. He looked at his notes and commented that he had prescribed an antibiotic last February for bronchitis. This time, he prescribed a z-pack (more antibiotics) and cough syrup with codeine. wahooo! I haven't had cough syrup with codeine in probably twenty years. Needless to say, Thursday was not a day for going to work. I slept. I took my antibiotics and some cough syrup, ate some oatmeal, and slept. And slept. Ate some so...

4 lb pork butt, $6.29 BBQ sauce, $2.39 Root beer for cooking, $3.59 Making your own pulled pork: priceless. (and almost irresistible!)

I'm pleased to report that a) it's been sunny in London (doh! I probably just jinxed us!) and b) we've really had a blast in the past two and a half days. We arrived on Wednesday morning. It's chilly, but not nearly as cold as it was last year. Or maybe I'm a lot less cold because I brought my super-warm wool coat this year! We hung out in the apartment for a bit, and then Bryan and I went out to find some lunch. Then it was naptime. Wednesday is also the customary trip to TESCO to stock up on groceries. We stopped at a pub for dinner - had to have fish 'n' chips! - and then went shopping. Prices seem reasonable when you look at the number in pounds sterling... then you do the math and realize that it's $1.65 to the pound. (Which is actually better than it used to be!) Mostly we need breakfast food. Thanksgiving Thursday, Mom, Dad and I went to the antiques market at Spittalfields . Many of the people in the shops wished us a Happy Thanksgiving. W...

I thought I might be able to post more often while I was in Portland, but that just wasn't to be. Here's a quick synopsis. Sunday was spent at the Convention Center, putting up posters in the TACC booth. We had our share of surprises, successes and snafus, but for the most part, our booth was lovely (bigger than we've ever had) and very successful . Sunday night, mom and I went to the Intel welcome party at the Portland Art Museum . (Apparently I didn't miss very much at the craft market.) The food was very good, we ran into a lot of people we knew and had some lovely conversations, and they gave out nice fleece jackets as a parting gift. My only complaint was that we didn't get to see the rest of the museum. That was kind of a bummer. Monday, I moved to the Governor hotel where the rest of the TACCsters were already encamped. After staying in the tiny room with my mom for the weekend, it was a pleasure to have a nice big room on the top floor, complete with fi...

(I mean the one in Oregon.... apparently there are a lot of other Portlands around the USA!) Today was filled with dining and shopping and football-watching. But let me start with last night's dinner, which was excellent. The front desk person at the hotel recommended a restaurant up the street called Southpark . I admit, I had visions of Stan, Kyle and Cartman at first, but it's actually a seafood restaurant with a distinctly Mediterranean flair. I forgot that it was a Friday night at 7:30pm... the place was packed. I ended up sitting at the bar in the Wine Bar section of the restaurant. It was very nice. I had a glass of Apolloni Pinot Grigio, and a small-ish dinner (it was already almost 10pm for me by then) of warm flatbreads with hummus, and the Pacific Northwest version of crabcakes. I was starving. Everything was very tasty, and the bartenders were really nice (one had even grown up in DC!), but between the time difference and the wine, I was starting to fade. ...

(I refuse to use Larry the Cable guy's catchphrase. Bleh.) This weekend, I managed to finish a bunch of things that were just sort of hanging around in limbo. For starters, I finally completed the crochet caterpillar for Nicky W. I'm hoping to get to the post office on Tuesday to ship it off to Boston. I also finished re-installing (mostly) my printer/copier/scanner so I could use it to scan photos and such. (see photo, right --> ) More of those will be posted shortly. There are so many to choose from! And, I cleared out a ton of cardboard boxes that have been filling my garage... I need the space -- my new B&D electric mower is coming on Thursday! (it's so cute!) There are so many things I can get done outside, now that it's not going to be 104 degrees every day. I also started a few new things - a new pot of basil is growing, some new parsley seedlings are peeking out, and I made an apple granola crumbly-thing for breakfasts this week. I'm sure this bu...

A big ol' thank you to Auntie M, for the bounty of housewarming goodies I found when I got back from DC. In no particular order: serving plates, a turkey baster, loaf pan, giant knitting needles, decorative glass bottles, cheese spreaders, tomato saver, and 'Auntie Sam' poster. phew!

Ryan got us tickets right behind home plate! So what if the Nats could be handed loss #100 tonight... it's a nice place.

(Image taken from treppenwitz, created by his wife Zahava)

(and our nation's Capitol!)

you could call these nosebleed seats... but I think those are below us!

First pair of eyeglasses... ever! It's amazing how much clearer everything is.

Last week, a gunman entered a LGBT Center in Tel Aviv and killed two people, and wounded a dozen more. Unfortunately, violence in Israel isn't exactly unusual, and while I frequently get choked up about it, this one was different. Because of Aubrey, I know a lot about the LGBT community in Austin (and have spent plenty of time in gay bars!), including the existence of Out Youth , which is an outreach center for young people, exactly like the one that was attacked in Tel Aviv. I went to their prom! --> Tonight, Out Youth, together with other LGBT community organizations and the Jewish Community Association of Austin, co-sponsored a vigil at City Hall to honor the victims in Tel Aviv. I had to go. When I started thinking about the whole situation earlier in the day, I started to cry. There is certainly no question that what happened in Tel Aviv was horrible. Any shooting, and particularly the shooting of children, is tragic. But even moreso because, of all of the places in ...

it took most of the day to get it all set up properly, but I love my new Mission style bedroom set! (thank you craigslist...) :)

Last month, I decided to organize a "Biggest Loser" contest at my office. I've since dropped out, but not because I am giving up. I'm taking a new path. Over the past... 20 or so years, I have spent a lot of time thinking about food. What to eat, what not to eat, how many calories (or WW points) everything is, how much I have to exercise to burn off whatever I ate for dinner, writing down what I've eaten -- and deciding whether to write something down at all (like those miniature york peppermint patties that I keep in my freezer)... and somehow, it never seems to end. I have been brainwashed by WW, so it's not a "diet" it's a " lifestyle change " -- I haven't used the word "diet" in forever. In the last year, I've been working with a nutritionist and a personal trainer (three years with the trainer), and although I know I'm in much better shape than I was when I started -- I definitely have more stamina, and I ca...

anybody want a ride? :)

aaah, summer in Austin!

it may be 90-something, but it's not so bad in the shade, and there's a nice breeze!