Happy Memorial Day!!
What a weekend it’s been so far! From group dinners to 90s rap dance parties to hitting baseballs in the park to eating the best chicken wings and pizza in town – one might have thought we accomplished it all by Saturday night. But as the clouds in Austin cleared out and made way for super Sunshine on Sunday, we packed our coolers and headed southeast to the Bastrop River Company.
In addition to coolers filled with beers and snacks, we also brought a couple Dickie Boards. Four people floated on tubes and two of us paddled most of the way. At one point, Brett (a paddler) roped himself to all of the tubes and toted our herd down the river. I can’t tell you how amazing it felt to be back on a board!
When we arrived back on land, we made sure to get plenty of pictures of Justin’s ridiculous America outfit Dickie Boards in the park. And after lots of photo wonderfulness and hanging with the Bastrop River Company guys for a bit, we headed back to town.
I hope everyone’s Memorial Day is filled with lots of family, friends, and appreciation for what this day represents!
More Green Juice
This “juice” was the second recipe I made from the Dr. Oz weekeend cleanse. The first was breakfast quinoa. Annnnd the third was supposed to be the soup, but all 20-ish dollars of ingredients are sitting sort of rotten in my fridge right now. I’d say oops, but I’m not too bothered by it. I’ve decided to say “yes” to the invites I’d ordinarily turn down to work on a post and not let the pressure of creating new content get the best of me.
So here it is, a pressure-less post about some juice. Someone else’s juice in a pretty cup with an umbrella straw. Drinking this juice almost felt like vacation. Rather a healthy, little, non-alcoholic stay-cation (the kind where you stay in, avoid emails, and get all of your laundry taken care of). I doubled the pineapple to reaffirm the stay-cation-ness.
I drank half of the juice right away and put the remaining half in the fridge to bring with me to work. I’m usually pretty grossed out by day old smoothie, but I think the straining away of the elements allowed this juice to keep. It kept so well that I’m thinking of experimenting with creating bulk quantities of juice and keeping some in the fridge for early in the week and freezing the remaining juice for later in the week.
Any recommendations for freezing homemade juice?
So. Much. Food.
This past weekend, a few of us gathered at Green Pastures here in Austin for Lauren‘s babyshower. I had never heard of Green Pastures and, in a very un-me fashion, I didn’t even look the place up before heading that way. But as I pulled through the gravel parking lot and saw a beautiful early 1900s home with a lush lawn and wraparound porch, I knew that this brunch was going to be something special.
We gathered in a semi-private dining room and caught up on Lauren’s latest pregnancy news. Some of us heard the baby’s name for the first time. Some of us learned a thing or two about birthing centers. But mostly, we sat around the table in our Sunday finest anticipating the all-you-can-eat buffet. Oh and milk punch. We slurped up milk punch, a divine mixture of ice cream, bourbon, brandy, and rum, before heading into the main dining hall.
When we set eyes on how extensive the buffet actually was, we were overwhelmed. Big time. They had everything from quiche to gaspacho to ahi tuna to kale salad to chocolate covered bacon to eggs benedict. I am not exaggerating in the slightest when I say there must have been 200-ish dishes to choose from. And then the sneaky servers that filled up your milk punch while you weren’t looking. It was glutton to the max, but it was wonderful glutton. This was the kind of brunch you left feeling happy full, spoiled full, not why-did-I-eat-that full.
And then we sat our full-bellied selves around the table and watched miss Lauren open up presents that she and Matt will soon share with their precious little boy. A little boy who is already so loved and who all of us are so excited to finally meet!