Choo Choo Choooo

This weekend Shawn and I touristed it up and decided to climb aboard the Bertram Flyer. It's a 3 hour train ride from Cedar Park to Bertram Texas on a super old train or something. It was my first train ride ever, but Shawn had been on a similar ride back home in Kentucky. We sat in first class station car (ooooo ahhhhh) which meant we were right behind the engine and we got free soda, a plate of treats, and a bag of chips.

(Enjoy these stock photos from the website. I totally didn't
jump out of the train to take them)

The ride each way was a little over an hour and it was kinda sorta boring. We were only going around 30 mph, and it was basically just a train ride through the back of people's yards with very little scenery. We saw a lot of fixer-uppers, a few Longhorn (hook 'em) and some horses and dogs. The train stopped in Bertram and we were able to get off for 15 minutes and walk around. Before leaving again, the engineers moved the engine to the back (now front) of the train for the ride home. That was kinda cool cuz then we could see straight out the back at the path behind us. Here are a few pictures of us being silly and passing the time:

Yep-this is what I get when I say "smile!" If you're wondering, he threw
the body off the back of the train to hide the evidence.

Here's Shawn proving he can do a happy face

Clearly my angry face is complete failure :)

And a few happy pictures of us in a station room and on the ride home in the caboose. It's fun getting out and seeing new things, and just spending time together in general. Luckily the weather is still nice and warm too! Tune in next time for the latest and greatest!

Yay!

This week at Weight Watchers I had good news-I finally lost the last little bit of weight I'd put on in the last few months during my surgery recovery/slack off time. That puts me down 14.8lbs since joining in July. It's not nearly what I'd like for myself but it is honestly what I earned. You remember that old saying "You are what you eat?" :p

I'm finishing this post a few days after I started it (It's Saturday now), but I'm happy to say I have my Thanksgiving shopping all done. I have my healthy menu mostly planned out, and a house full of good-for-me-food. I've been pretty irresponsible with eating this week, and haven't journaled like I should. My "mental notes" aren't nearly as accurate as pen and paper, but I am always striving to improve :)

That's all (for now) folks!

Weekend of Win

So yesterday Shawn and I ventured out to the Austin Celtic Festival. It had been a toss up between a quick trip down to San Antonio/Sea World or the Festival. We opted for the festival since it's only here once a year. If we'd gone to Sea World, we may have spent the whole time feeling emo and wondering how the Festival was, since we couldn't find out for another year...so we chose to go to the Festival.

We had the misfortune of getting stuck in UT Football traffic on the way down, but still got down there around noon. We brought the camera, but sadly there wasn't really anything worth photographing. Lots of cute dogs...but not so much in the way of authentic Celtic activities. I did learn that the Celtic's are way into Tye Dye shirts. Ok maybe not, but there was a huge shop display :)

We're glad either way that we ventured out and tried something new in the city we both know hardly anything about. I work next Saturday, but the weekend after that I think we're going to try a ride on the Bertram Flyer . Yes we are doing touristy things, but technically we both haven't done or seen very much here. Any native/long term Austinites have any good suggestions of fun things to do??

TGIF!

Today has been a long day. Something about getting in a car accident, staying out until 2am, and being to work by 8am. :o) I had a few weird back spasm/pain things during the night sleeping, and was generally sore and very exhausted all day. I talked to Janna around lunch time and she gave me a contact person for her insurance company so I could find out about medical claim/coverage. She and I both opted to go to a doctor to be checked out as a precaution.

They took some x rays that the doctor should have back by Monday. I got a prescription for a muscle relaxant and if needed, I still have some pain pills left over from my surgery. I doubt I will, but it's nice to know they're on hand!

Tomorrow Shawn and I are going to the Annual Austin Celtic Festival ! It's an all-weekend event, but we'll go check it out for a few hours tomorrow and see if there's anything cool. If anything I'm sure there'll be some cool people watching experiences. G'night all!

Good Times!

So last night I went with Janna and some of her friends to the Parish for the Marc Broussard concert downtown at the Parish. We all went out for dinner before at Outback Steakhouse and I have to say I had the BEST steak ever. I must have been craving red meat because that did the trick!

We split up in separate cars for the drive down. Janna and I in her jeep, and everyone else in her friend Suzi's car. We're a few blocks away from the concert and are stopped at the light when suddenly Janna tells me "Hold On!" I didn't understand what was going on until I heard the crash and felt the impact. Some guy driving behind us just totally crashed into the back of us! The impact crashed us into Suzi's car in front of us too! :(

Here are some pictures (that I casually borrowed for Janna's blog) of the driver's car-white and Janna's Jeep. The driver's airbags deployed, but the damage on Janna's car was isolated to the bumpers. Luckily we were the bigger car there.

We all had a great time at the concert once we finally got there, but partway into the concert we were all feeling the effects of the crash. I sat out for the last few songs, and most everyone else took a break too. We waited around to be able to get pictures/autographs with Marc but apparently he set up a meet and greet that none of us had known about. What a bummer! Marc missed the super fans that came to see him DESPITE being in a pretty significant car crash!

I got home around 1:30 am, and have decided that a) going out with friends and actually being social is FUN! but b) I'm really, really, really old. Wish we'd gotten some group pictures, but hopefully next time!