Saturday Night

After relaxing at the winery, we headed back to Kathy's place and got ready for dinner. 

We ate at Maria, Maria, which is owned by Carlos Santa.

If you need someone hot to model a cocktail, Anna is your girl.

Thanks for having us, Kathy!!

And yes, you can use this as your new Facebook profile picture.

Dinner was delicious, and we decided to end our night at Eddie V's.

This is one of my new favorite photos of the three of us.

Wait. Did I say end our night?

We decided we would end our night with ice cream, of course!

 

You may not be able to tell, but this was a child's size table. And what is more funny than a child's size table? Small people trying to sit at it!

     

And we ate, 

And ate. I think Anna could model anything at this point.

 Kathy ate too, but sneakily avoided the camera. 

Alas, we were finished, and I went to the trashcan only to find it overflowing with the night's treats. Answer? Take a picture!

And so our night ended. We felt a little bit spunky and a little bit sad. 

And full. Definitely full.

Saturday Afternoon

After our World of Olives Tour, we headed to a cute spot for lunch. It was called The Leaning Pear, and it had a festive fall scene. Photo opt!!

Don't they look happy together?

 

After we ordered our lunch, we took the down time to take pictures together. 

 And we had some wine with lunch, and it inspired me to take an artsy photo of it in its natural environment.

After lunch, we drove to Driftwood Winery, and on the way, saw this sign. We thought we might pop in and try our luck, but wine sounded more appealing. 

The winery had a tasting bar where you got a sip of several different varietals. 

After our tasting, we decided upon our favorite and took a bottle outside to the amazing grounds. There was an extensive bluff that overlooked the vineyards below, and there were lots of places to sit with little tables placed all around. It was really pretty, and we spent quite a bit of time sitting outside, sipping our wine and enjoying each others company. 

Yes, this is how we enjoy each others company:

And the normal way too:

We stayed until the sun began to set. Thankfully the weather was perfect, and we could just hang out together.

I think this is why people own wineries. 

A Saturday Morning in Austin

Kathy planned some really fun outings for us on Saturday. But first, we had to have a group photo. Thankfully, I had my handy dandy tabletop tripod from my grandfather, so it made it a breeze.

Our first stop was an olive orchard, where we took a tour and then did a tasting. It was a ways out of town, but ended up being a pretty drive. With lots of directional help along the way. 

 We made it to the orchard, and it was a beautiful day.

Here are some olive trees.

If you ever need a model to pretend to eat a bruised olive off the ground, Anna is your girl.

Here's the owner of the orchard. He not only told us all about the history of olives, but really the entire history of the civilized world. The man had a lot to share.

FYI: these are asparagus bushes. Who knew?

We got to visit the processing room where they were grinding the olives, which had been harvested the day before,  into olive oil. Here's Anna peering into the whirling grinder.

They grind the olives whole to make oil, and this bucket catching the pumice, or remaining pulp. See? I told you we learned a lot.

These olives were picked just the day before!

And we had a few photo opts. 

Next stop, LUNCH!

Synchronicity

Weekend before last, I was able to meet up with two of my very best girlfriends for some fun in Austin.

The amazing part was how it all worked out. Kathy and I rotate who visits who, and it was my turn to go to Austin. We had been planning the weekend for the fall for a while, and the only weekend that seemed to be perfect for both of us was weekend before last. So we booked it. 

And then guess what? Anna told Kathy that she had a free plane ticket to use, and was going to come to Austin to see her mom (who lives there) and wanted to see Kathy too. It was the SAME weekend that I would be there!!

Totally great how we were all brought back together. 

So now on to what we did. 

I arrived before Anna, so Kathy and I had time to set up her welcoming party.

I know it's not really evident, but Kathy does not do this for a living. 

It was a success!

Kathy found her passenger.

Friday night was titled: Eat & Drink While Wearing Loungewear Night. 

Kathy fixed us a delicious dinner.

Yes, I'm showing you dessert first!!

She made an incredible basil dressing for the salad.

And, her fresh tomato lasagna was a repeat recipe for sure. I didn't even mind the tofu!

After eating, we spent some time on the couch catching up. Anna had a cuddle buddy, Pepper. 

There is something nice about having friends who you can sit on the couch with in your loungwear and talk the night away.

Kathy was also finalizing our plans for Saturday.

Stay tuned to see what you can do on a Saturday in Austin!

Mi Madre

This is my mom.

She and I lived together and have known each other for a long time. We tend to have our own language.

And, we like each other.

Then we met these hooligans.

Ok, not true hooligans, but they wish. Together, we may equal a group of hooligans.

Anyway, Mom and I decided that we needed a girls' weekend. Chris was gone visiting his family, and so Mom jaunted across the bridge and came to see me.

My mom brings lots of bags.

Thankfully, she also like to grocery shop for good food with me.

Every time Chris is gone I make guacamole, and this time was no different. We found the most beautiful cilantro at Whole Foods.

I took a picture of the finished guacamole, but it didn't look too appetizing.Just trust me that it was good!

Either way, Mom and I still made time to sit in bed with a cat and girl talk.

Porter liked getting caught up with the important goings on.

 

A good girls', plus Porter, weekend!