athene: (DJ and Mommy Selfie)

We decided that 2.75 would be the perfect age for Little Prince to experience his first Mardi Gras in New Orleans.

On Thursday, Feb 27, we got into the car nice and early and drove to New Orleans. The drive went pretty well overall. Little Prince used the potty twice on the way there, which was totally unexpected and cool. He did fight sleep for over half an hour after lunch time, which sucked. We were really hoping to get in to NOLA in time to head over to Tante’s and catch Muses, but we hit some nasty traffic in Baton Rouge and by the time we got to Grandma R’s, we were all just exhausted.

On Friday Grandma R showed us that she’d saved a huge amount of our childhood toys. Little Prince was in heaven playing with it all.

Grandma R saved our childhood toys. DJ loved playing with them.

 That evening we headed over to Tante and Bullit’s for our very first Mardi Gras parades. Darius got to learn just how stressful parking during Mardi Gras can be. We got to Tante’s, ate dinner, and then the parades started right outside her door.

A kid on his shoulders and a beer in his hand. Daddy is doing Carnival right.
Darius with a drink in his hand and LP on his shoulders.
That’s doing Mardi Gras right!


Read the rest of this entry on my Little Prince blog
athene: (pregnant: still not king)
A week ago today my mom and sister came into town.

Friday during the day I showed mom how to make cake pops (or how to start them at least), we started making food for Seder, I took a half day at work, and mom and I went shopping for stuff for the cake pops. The problem with cake pops is that you need to create a display for them. So we went to Hobby Lobby and got some floral foam and some fake moss so we could make a "nest" for the dinosaur egg cake pops.

Friday night some friends came over and we had Passover Seder. It was very nice to have Seder with my family and friends, even if the evening was a touch more irreverent that I would have liked. We got to eat at the table (if you don't know the store of the table, ask [livejournal.com profile] lordaerith about it some time. I even had a touch of wine for each of the glasses of wine one must drink (and I buy the GOOD Kosher wine).

Saturday was get up and finish the cake pops with mom. Then finish cleaning the house (aka stuff things that shouldn't be out in rooms that will be closed off) while [livejournal.com profile] queencimmy, Byskwik, and mom got the last of the party things (including decorations).

Our baby shower was fantastic. You can read all about it and see tons of pictures from it on my pregnancy blog.

After the shower, mom, Cimmy, and I watched the last episode of Treme Season 1. We all got a bit emotional. Big surprise.

Then all four of us went out to a birthday party for some friends, but we didn't stay too long.

Sunday mom and I got up early and had a really wonderful talk. Then she and Cimmy had to leave and Aerith and I collapsed into exhaustion.

Yesterday I did my first full laundry load of baby clothing. So much and yet it all fit easily into the washer and dryer.
athene: (pie)
Yesterday was Pi Day (March 14, 3.14...unless you're in England, in which case you celebrate Pi Day on 22/7). In honor of Pi Day, [livejournal.com profile] lordaerith and I held our Second Not-Quite-Annual-But-Getting-There Pi Day Pie Potluck.

OMG, the pie. So much pie! I made an apple pie. Aerith made sheepard's pie with lamb. There was a greek sheepherd's pie with bison. There was chicken pot pie and chicken in filio dough. There was pecan pie, pumpkin pie, chocolate peanut butter pie, round brownie bites with Π drawn on them. There was a pizza pie. Someone brought an American Pie DVD. There was another chicken pie thing made by [livejournal.com profile] saphirebear that looked and smelled yummy, but by the time she showed up, I was so over full that I couldn't eat another bite (but I have leftovers!). I'm forgetting some pies. Too much pie (is there ever too much pie???)

Everyone ate pie and drank and chatted and hung out and ate more pie and fell over. It was awesome. Will try to remember to do it again next year.

As always, the day following Pi Day is the Ides of March. Happy Ides. Don't get stabbed!
athene: (Who Dat! Saints!)
How do I describe this feeling? I'm still in shock(ey). Part of me doesn't believe that it happened. Part of me thinks that I'm dreaming. The New Orleans Saints WON the Mother Fucking Super Bowl. It was the first time they ever made it to the Super Bowl in the 43 years of them being a team. And they won. Their Super Bowl record is 1 for 1!!!!

Started out the day going to the first Mardi Gras parade I've been to since high school. Yelling "Who Dat" got you more throws than yelling "Throw me something."

Came home and my sister and her friends were painting themselves in liquid latex to make it look like they had on Saints jerseys. They looked fantastic and when they were done, they headed out to the Quarter for the game. I'm sure there'll be lots of pictures of them online somewhere.

Then mom and I worked together to decorate a New Orleans Saints Drew Brees cake. (Not the best picture, as I took it with my phone)

Let me explain. For years mom has made a cake in this football player shaped cake pan and decorated it to be a member of one of the teams in the Super Bowl. She's only decorated it in the losing team's colors once. She's never done a New Orleans Saints one before because they've never been to the Super Bowl before. So here we are trading off decorating the Saints cake (the advantage of having two bakers is that when one needs to take a break, the other one can step it) and it hits us. We're actually making a Saints cake because they're in the Super Bowl. It hit me when I was filling in the fleur-des-lis on his arm. The symbol of the Saints. The symbol of New Orleans. The symbol of my city. I almost cried. Mom almost cried. It was nuts.

Then we went to a Super Bowl party at mom's friend's private club and watched the game via projector on a wall. The experience itself was amazing. There was a ton of really good food :). Someone brought a Saints prayer candle, which had a picture of a Saints player on one side and a prayer for the Saints on the other. We lit the candle and I read the prayer out loud. Then we watched the game. I remember being nervous. I remember screaming and yelling. I remember Hartley making those beautiful beautiful field goals. The prayer candle went out twice and there was a rush to relight it both times. So then I started pouring out the wax every once in while. I ended up with a ball of wax that I was nervously mushing around and playing with. I remember the insanity of the onsides kick to start the second half and the way we screamed and yelled when it went to us. I remember mom yelling "Tracy Porter interception to a touchdown! Tracy Porter interception to a touchdown" and then it happened and somehow I was perched in the chair I was sitting in just moments before. And then there was less than 2 minutes left and the Colts had the ball near their own goal and we HELD them. We HELD them and then it was our ball and there was only 40 second left. WE HAD WON. I was in shock. I couldn't believe what I was seeing. I thought I'd be crying, but it was just so overwhelming and insane. Then we were all screaming and yelling and dancing to the songs. Watching the Saints get the trophy was surreal.

After the Saints got the trophy, I got a ride towards the Quarter with some of the people who were at the party. We ended up picking up their friends who lived near St. Charles. We drove St. Charles down to the Quarter. It seemed like the whole city was heading that way. People were walking down the neutral ground, not waiting for the street car. People were honking their horns. People were standing on the side of the street with their hands out and we'd roll down our windows, scream "Who Dat", and give them high fives. The closer we got to the Quarter, the more insane it got. Finally were were on Loyola and the traffic was barely moving but it didn't matter. People were hanging out of their cars with umbrellas. People were chanting "Who Dat." People were screaming and yelling and just generally so excited. The people I was with decided that it would be insane to try to go any further in, so we parked at the Holiday Inn on Loyola downtown of Poydras and walked into the Quarter. As we walked we chanted and screamed and high fived and hugged everyone else. It was crazy. When we got to Canal, we saw that the French Quarter side of it had been closed off, just like they do for Mardi Gras. Part way down we stopped and watched a Second Line go by. If I wasn't trying to meet up with my sister at that point, I probably would have joined them. We headed into the Quarter by way of Dauphine. There were people everywhere. Everyone was cheering and screaming and high fiving. People had out drums and were pounding out beats. We started to head down towards Bourbon. Bourbon was packed wall to wall. So I said good-bye to the people I was with, grabbed my purse and scarf tightly and pushed into the crowd to try and cross the street. I almost got pressed against a barrier by a cop on horseback. I was almost in the way of a fire truck that was trying to move down the street. It was insanely hard to press through the crowd (especially since I wasn't really going with most of the flow), but eventually I did it. Upside to that many people, I was nice and warm while in that press of bodies. Went down to Royal and walked it instead. Still a large number of people all celebrating, but so much easier to move through than Bourbon. Skipped over to Charters and walked by St. Louis Cathedral. I could smell the beignetts from Cafe du Monde. Charters was more empty than the other two streets, but there were still people chanting and hugging and high fiving there too.

Hit lower Decatur at Ursulines where I found another party going on. A true locals party. Found my sister at her local bar, dancing on a chair. Tweeted and my phone died. Hugged a whole bunch of people that I knew. Danced a bunch. Reveled in the realizations that "holy crap, we'd won the Super Bowl." Yelled "Who Dat" a ton, both inside and outside of the bar. Ate the best tasting pizza in the wold. Finally left the bar sometime after midnight to go home with my sister. On our way to the car, we started singing the Get Crunk song and a guy walking around with a drum picked up the beat and walked with us a bit. Got home and pretty much fell over.

I almost didn't come into New Orleans. But I'm so glad I did. I wouldn't have wanted to be anywhere else than were I was when the Saints came marching in.

PS. The Google ad was my favorite Super Bowl ad. It was the only one I can really remember.
athene: (Default)
This weekend I made a cake for a little boy named Alex who was turning 4. He wanted a red, yellow, and blue race car. Good thing I already had the race car pan. :)



I'm really proud of how well the front tire came out. A huge thanks to [livejournal.com profile] lordaerith who helped me with the headlights and the 4 on the hood (perspective is not my friend!).

The party went really well. He was so happy to have tons of people there and he really liked his cake and the present we got him, which is what made it all worth it.
athene: (Vampire Cake)


I made this cake for [livejournal.com profile] gailmom's Halloween party last weekend. It was a big hit with the kids and the adults.
athene: (hi how are you)
Had a really good weekend.

[livejournal.com profile] gailmom came into town on Thursday, which is always awesome. We got curtains for our front windows made by the amazing [livejournal.com profile] apryl_knight.

Friday I left work a little early because I'd already worked over 42 hours and [livejournal.com profile] lordaerith and I went to the store and then came home and napped for too long. Then I made my starting-to-become-famous apple cobbler (I pretty much used this recipe from How to Cook Everything, except I modify the filling based on Jill's Apple Pie filling from More from Magnolia. It came out so much better now that I have a 9x9x2 square pan. The apples kind of caramelized around the sides of the pan.

Friday night [livejournal.com profile] lordaerith, [livejournal.com profile] gailmom and I headed to a party with the apple cobbler in hand. Was a very nice party. The cobbler went over really well, especially since I was able to heat it up in the oven. It was decided that it would go amazingly well with some of Amy's Mexican Vanilla ice cream.

Saturday morning we had to get up early-ish and clean clean clean for the small housewarming gathering that we were holding that day. Also, as it was the day after [livejournal.com profile] lordaerith's birthday I made him a chocolate Garfield cake.


The housewarming party went really well. I love that we now have a place where we can have people over without it being too crowded. I don' t think anyone hung out upstairs almost at all and there was still a ton of room downstairs. Thanks to everyone who came! To everyone who didn't, we missed you.

The funniest part of the party was when the 5 year old daughter of a friend decided to crawl into the box at the bottom of our cat structure. I had no idea a 5 year old could even fit in there, but apparently she is an amazing contortionist. Not only was she able to climb into the box, but she even managed to turn herself around, which was very impressive. Pictures have been emailed to her mother for future embarrassment.


Saturday night we ended up staying up really late hanging out with friends and cleaning up from the party.

Today we got up really late. We decided that we needed cuddling on the couch while eating breakfast and watching the last episode of Mythbusters. We were about to get comfy when the girl-cat pushed over a pillow from the back of the couch, knocking over a large glass of OJ. Cue massive clean-up effort. At least the episode (when we finally got to watch it), was good. Then Miss Gail had to go home. After she got in her car, she asked me to get her a Dublin Dr. Pepper from the mini-fridge upstairs to drink on the road. When I went to open it for her, I spilled some of it it on top of the fridge, on the wall, and down my white skirt. *sigh*I guess because there was no major party foul, the gods decided to make it up to us the next day.

But, then the Saints won (5-0 baby! Who dat???) and there were Empire apples at my local H-E-B when I went grocery shopping so that made up for the morning.

weekend

Jun. 7th, 2009 04:46 pm
athene: (lilo and scrump)
This weekend [livejournal.com profile] gailmom came to visit. She showed up right when I was getting home from work on Friday. We chilled at home and then [livejournal.com profile] lordaerith made grilled pork chops, rice pilaf, and steamed green beans for dinner. That night we went out to a benefit show for one of our friends, which was a lot of fun. Got to see the Lizardman perform. He was really funny.

Yesterday we brought the car to Groovy Lube for an oil change. They were really fast. Then we went to pick up the art pieces that Gail won at the benefit. While we were down south we headed to the mall so I could get soap from The Body Shop (I was out) and picked up a few other things. Then we went to Boomerangs for lunch. Mmmm...meat pie! And now we have frozen pies in our freezer!

After all that, we came home, crazed, and ran a low level instance on WoW. It was nice to have all of us in one room instead of working it all out over headset. Then we headed out a party at a friend's house. We were there until past 2am!

This morning (well, almost noon) Aerith made us bacon, eggs, and toast for breakfast (brunch?). Then Gail had to leave (sadness). Tonight, the Tony's hosted by NPH!
athene: (iAthene)
Last week was my first week of work at Convio. I really like it there so far. The atmosphere and the people are great. There's a real sense of helping others. I sit next to [livejournal.com profile] circoea, who started the same day that I did. She's really awesome. We've totally bonded. We'll see how things go in the next few weeks, as I learn more about how to do my job and the responsibilities that come with it, but over all I'm really happy that we made the decision that we did.

On Friday night I came home, fed the cats, and promptly fell asleep until almost 9pm. QOTJ was awesome and picked me up around 10 and we went to [livejournal.com profile] ripresa's party where a good time was had by all. Didn't get home until almost 3am.

On Saturday I woke up too early by accident. Around noon I went with a group of friends to a house that a non-profit that I'm involved with is leasing and helped work on it. We're in the "getting it ready for painting" stage. Might go out again next weekend.

After a brief rest at home, during which I got to watch Bride and Prejudice, I went out to another party. Had a great time there. Didn't get home until after 1:30am.

Today [livejournal.com profile] lordaerith got back from visiting [livejournal.com profile] gailmom and we went out to lunch with [livejournal.com profile] last_bastion and [livejournal.com profile] raenshadoe (who were in town, yay!), as well as [livejournal.com profile] noeticist, FireCat, and friends.

Now is downtime and probably WoW, although we have some errands to run.
athene: (senior)
Last weekend I went to a crawfish boil at a friend's house. Next week I'm going to be in New Orleans so I get to have more crawfish. Yay!

Tuesday of last week I made both tzimmis (in the crock pot) and my first attempt at a raspberry-blackberry (aka razzleberry) pie. The pie was a little more liquidy than i wanted. I need to remember to clean the berries and let them dry before mixing them with the sugar.

Tuesday night I hung out with one group of friends and then went out to Karaoke, which was awesome because I hadn't been in ages. I missed it, even if it has changed somewhat since I started going.

Yesterday [livejournal.com profile] gailmom came for a visit which was awesome cause I missed her very much and it was great to see her. We hung out and went to Phil's Icehouse for burgers and watched Tank Girl. Then we got all pretty and went to a party which was good. Had some good talks with old friends and made some new ones.

Today we got up late and I wanted to make waffles, but there wasn't any milk so I ran to the store while [livejournal.com profile] gailmom and [livejournal.com profile] lordaerith cleaned up the kitchen. I came home and made the waffle batter and put the first batch in the waffle iron and then realized that I forgot to use the non-stick spray. The waffles stuck to the top and bottom and the top of the waffle iron kept threatening to fall backwards. Cue total breakdown from me due to not having eaten yet (ah, blood-sugar issues). But Gail and Aerith were awesome and cleaned it up and fed me. So the first set of waffles were more like waffle crumble, which we just dipped in the maple syrup and was pretty awesome anyway. The rest of the waffles came out just fine (even if the waffle maker still tries to open too far). Eventually Gail had to go home and Aerith and I played WoW and had more of the leftover tzimmis and watched last week's Dollhouse (which was awesome) and Heroes (which was really slow, but had a very interesting ending).
athene: (violet - incredibles)
Been having a good week. [livejournal.com profile] lordaerith and I both had this week off from work. We were supposed to get a lot of cleaning done. We did get some done, but not as much as I really wanted to. Oh well, that's how these things go.

For New Year's Eve we went to a friend's house who was having a James Bond themed party. It was fun. We dressed up all nice. It was good to see some people that we haven't seen in a while.

All dressed up )

On New Years day we mostly hung out and played WoW and stuff. Aerith made a Pork and Apple roast in the crock pot which was really yummy and made the house smell good all day.

Yesterday Camera came over for a while and we watched more Firefly (I am slowly turning him into a Browncoat. Mwahhaha!).

Other that it's been nice to just have quiet time at home. My dwarf is almost level 25, I've seen the whole first season of Entourage, and I'm reading Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom and re-reading Kushiel's Chosen at the same time.

Party tonight, last day of vacation tomorrow, back at work on Monday, and mom comes to visit in two weeks.
athene: (wedding-smile)
During the second weekend in October (10-12), I attended the 2008 Browncoat Ball, hosted by the Austin Browncoats.

Friday night I showed up in a take on River from Safe outfit. I got to hang out with lots of cool people and make new friends (some of whom I'd actually met before, but didn't realize it). Hung out by the merch booth and took part in some of the general sillyness. There was food and crafts in the reception room and Ammy from SF taught us some folk dancing for the ball the next night. Dancing in combat boots is not the easiest thing in the world. I think my favorite part of the dancing was when we were learning a traveling dance that included dancing with everyone and my partner (who was one of the people helping Ammy teach) said to me, "This isn't a very monogamous dance." To which I responded, "That's okay, I'm not a very monogamous person."

After it was over, [livejournal.com profile] oracle_tx and [livejournal.com profile] apryl_knight were kind enough to give me a ride home via Kerby Lane Cafe. They had a really awesome sounding meatloaf on the menu, but they were out of it by the time we got there.

Pictures from Friday night )

On Saturday, [livejournal.com profile] emeraldliz and DCS picked me up bright and early for a day of fun sessions. The first session I went to was about video editing. I think that it went over the head of a lot of the audience. The second one I did was learning Mahjong.

After the second session, it was lunch break. Liz, DCS, and I ended up taking Ammy out to Threadgills for a true Southern lunch. After that there was some time to kill before the next session, so I crashed in Inara's Shuttle (aka the hospitality suite) for a while. Ended up in a cuddle pile watching Shindig.

My last session was Bellydancing, taught by [livejournal.com profile] apryl_knight. It was a lot of fun and a really good workout. We even learned a simple routine to perform at the Ball that night (which I ended up not performing due to wearing a corset-type top). After the session, we headed home to get ready for the Ball that night.

[livejournal.com profile] lordaerith and I decided to wear our wedding outfits to the Ball. It took us a while to get ready, but it was totally worth it. We got there near the end of the cocktail hour and got to chat with a bunch of lovely people, including [livejournal.com profile] zyrain, who had told me that he was coming to the BCB, but I was worried that he'd forgotten about it because I hadn't seen him all day.

The Ball itself was a ton of fun. Everyone got announced in. There was a string quartette during dinner. Dinner was quite good. We sat with [livejournal.com profile] emeraldliz, DCS, and a bunch of Austin Browncoats.

After dinner, the bellydancing class did their routine. Then there was dancing, including some of the folk dances from the day before, and talking and performances from the Brobdingnagian Bards and the Bedlam Bards. There was also a raffle and prizes for various things. [livejournal.com profile] zyrain ended up winning best male dancer.

Pictures from the Ball )

On Sunday, Zee and Adam were kind enough to drive me to brunch. Mmm...brunch. Ended up leaving a little earlier than planned with [livejournal.com profile] oracle_tx in order to drop off a friend from LA at the ER to get her arm checked out (she had injured it at the Ball and it was swelling) before her flight later that day. I'm still not sure what became of that.

Came home and crashed for a little while.

More pictures from the BCB 2008 can be found at:
Sky Pirate
Robyn's Roost
Flickr Group
athene: (Dragon Cake)
On Friday [livejournal.com profile] lordaerith and I went to a party where we got to meet some cool new people and I got to reconnect with an old friend. I made chocolate cupcakes for the party which went over really well. Except something seemed a little wrong with them but I couldn't place it then.

On Tuesday I made a double batch of the same cupcakes for the new student orientation at the iSchool and I realized what it was. On Friday I only put in half the amount of buttermilk that the recipe called for. Oops. If the ones from Friday were good, the ones from Tuesday were even better, even if I did have to run out twice while making them (once to Michael's, while the first batch was baking, to pick up more cupcake holders and once to HEB for more powdered sugar). I decorated them with the iSchool logo and the IT Lab logo because I'm a nerd.

iSchool logo cupcake

IT Lab logo cupcake

When I was walking to the bus with the cupcakes yesterday someone asked me if they were for Halloween or UT. I smiled and said "UT". Is this the first of becoming a Texan?

Orientation went really well yesterday. I answered lots of new student questions and gave advice. The cupcakes were well received and by 3pm there weren't any left.

After orientation I went to the iSchool Happy Hour at the Dog and Duck which was fun. Came home and ended up taking a 2.5 hour nap. Guess I needed it.

In other news, the job search is going well. I don't want to say anything more than that, lest I jinx it. I still have to finish up some stuff in the Lab so I'll be there today, after the vet comes over for the cats' yearly checkup, and possibly tomorrow.
athene: (Vampire Cake)
[livejournal.com profile] crabes and I should probably never be left alone together...especially with a computer that has a camera on it. Click the picture for more silliness.



Yesterday [livejournal.com profile] lordaerith and I went to the Edible Book Festival. My entry was the Cakeonomicon, which I made out of golden cake, vanilla cupcakes, butter cream icing, gel icing, and a pineapple slice. [livejournal.com profile] lordaerith helped me cut up the cupcakes and place them on the cake.



The festival went really really well. I didn't win anything *sad* but the ballot counters told me afterwards that I had quite a few votes for Tastiest and some for Wittiest. :)

One of the best entries was the League of Extraordinary Gingerbread Men. It won both Best Book Construction and Best in Show.



After the judging was over we got to eat some of the entries. Yum. I saved most of mine and brought it to FireCat and Silver's party that night, but there's still some left over. Had a good time at the party, but left early-ish due to sleepiness and large amounts of homework.

Talking about homework, I am totally overwhelmed right now. I don't think I'll be sleeping much in the next few weeks.
athene: (Ronia)
This weekend should have been amazing. Instead it felt like it alternated between On moments and off moments, which I shall recap in the table below.

On

Off

Having [livejournal.com profile] lordaerith pick me up on Friday night and going to the Dog & Duck for food, where we randomly ran into a good chunk of the iSchool.

It being so packed at the Dog & Duck that we didn't really get to talk to any of them (other than [livejournal.com profile] syhira and her boi who sat with us).

Going to see the Austin Wind Symphony's tribute to video games.

It could have been a lot better than it was. The symphony didn't have a lot of "heart" as [livejournal.com profile] lordaeirth put it. Also, they had 2 video screens which would often project images of the game play. I think that in some ways it distracted from the music, because people were more focused on the video. Also, they had a real chance to make it a true interactive-multimedia performance, but only really interacted with the clips from Super Mario Brothers. It was worth the $8 admission.

My sister, [livejournal.com profile] queencimmy, and her boy, [livejournal.com profile] nola_poet, drove into to visit us this weekend.

Due to traffic & other factors, they didn't get in until 2:30am. We had figured on them showing up around midnight Friday night. This means I didn't get to bed until almost quarter to 4.

 

On Saturday morning I thought I might have yet another UTI (ooohhh…too much information, right?), but I don't. Still, it didn't make the morning fun.

I got to show [livejournal.com profile] queencimmy and [livejournal.com profile] nola_poet around UT. We went to the HRC where we surprised [livejournal.com profile] nola_poet with an exhibit of the first 40 feet of the original "On the Road" scroll (it's on display until mid-June, I think). After the HRC, I took them to see my second home (aka the iSchool IT Lab). We chilled there for a little bit, walked around a bit more, and then lordaerith and I got yummy yummy food at the Flying Falafel.

I had to return a book to the library and pick up on that had come in. Unfortunately, by the time we got to the library it had closed, so I was only able to do the returning.

We said good-bye [livejournal.com profile] nola_poet and [livejournal.com profile] queencimmy for a little while and got to the Texas Union at 5:30 to be first in line for the Jonathan Coulton show (it started at 9). We were the first people in line by a couple of minutes. [livejournal.com profile] apryl_knight, [livejournal.com profile] cjovalle, qyandri, gruff, [livejournal.com profile] iskanderia, and [livejournal.com profile] lawtalkyguy eventually joined us on line.

 

While waiting in line, we whipped out Munchkin Cthulhu and I ended up playing a lively game of it with the people who were in line behind us.

We never got to finish the game, because the doors opened up before it was over. At least I wasn't the lowest level at that point.

At one point while waiting, Jonathan Coulton poked his head out to start setting up his merchanidce. [livejournal.com profile] lordaerith asked him if it was okay if we taped him and he said yes as long as it was okay with the venue. I asked him to play "Better" which is one of my favorite songs of his, and he said he would try to.

 

We ended up with two tables right in front of the stage.

We were trying to save seats behind us for [livejournal.com profile] caelligh and [livejournal.com profile] ethanhunter, but eventually the place was so packed that we had to give them up. After we did that, [livejournal.com profile] caelligh showed up, but she left because at that point it was standing room only. Next time guys, I promise.

The show was AMAZING (as always). There's too much to write up here, so see below for a longer write-up. I will say that he did infact play "Better".

Jonathan Coulton's guitar. It sounded fine to me, but he kept tuning it throughout the night and never seemed quite happy with it.

We got to tape the show.

We didn't tape the funniest part because we were running out of battery power and tape. [livejournal.com profile] lordaerith will never hear the end of it. Also, I didn't grab a DV to Firewire cord when I picked up the Camcorder. Now I can't get the concert off of the tape and onto YouTube. I'm going to have to go to campus to get the cord.

[livejournal.com profile] noeticist's party was still happening by the time we got out of the show.

It was pretty much winding down by the time we go there. But we were able to say hi to a few people, especially [livejournal.com profile] last_bastion and [livejournal.com profile] raenshadoe, who were in from out of town.

My sister got all dressed up to go to the party.

She didn't end up making it because by the time she was about to leave, the party was almost over. Also, [livejournal.com profile] nola_poet's GPS couldn't find the place.

 

We got up really really late (1pm) on Sunday and therefore weren't able to go to brunch at Kerby Lane.

We did got to [livejournal.com profile] lawtalkyguy's for Super Smash Bros/Rock Band. Queencimmy finally got to meet a good chunk of my friends.

We were only there for a little while.

 

[livejournal.com profile] queencimmy and [livejournal.com profile] nola_poet had to go home.

 

I felt…off/close to tears for the rest of the night. No idea why. Bleh.

 

I discovered that I deleted my "New Pics" folder from my desktop and empty the Trash before I noticed this. This is the folder in which I kept all the pictures from the camera that I have yet to edit & place online. There's a 94% chance that [livejournal.com profile] lordaerith has all of the files on his computer as well. He probably has at least 90% of them.

I took the whole weekend off to spend time with my sister and do fun things.

I already feel like I'm behind on the amount of stuff I have to do over Spring Break.



JoCo Show

The show was awesome (as I said above).

The opening act, Samantha Murphy, was interesting. I like that she played barefoot and was funny enough to keep the audience entertained. Also girl could hold a note.

Jonathan Coulton ended up playing 2 sets because there were so many people who wnated to get in and the show was sold out. I think it had to do with some standing-room-only people leaving so others could see the second set.

I'm sure I could say tons about the whole show all the songs he played, but hopefully I'll have most of the show up on YouTube soon so you can see for yourself. Therefore, I'm just going to give you the highlights (as I see them).

In the first set he played "Better" which had me grinning like crazy the entire time. At the end of "Creepy Doll", [livejournal.com profile] lordaerith and I held up our iPhones which were displaying lighters on them. JoCo saw us and totally cracked a smile. I made sure to turn the phone around so the rest of the audience could see it. Since he liked it so much, during "Mandelbrot Set" I ducked my iPhone under the table and used Google Images to find a picture of a fractal, which I then waved back and forth. This definitely made JoCo grin when he saw it.

JoCo and Michael WoodThe best bit of the show, was when JoCo pulled up a member of the audience to help him with "Chiron Beta Prime". The kid who was brought up on stage, Michael Wood, was hilariously funny during the song and even "broke" JoCo. However, when it got to the point where he had to say "Message Redacted" in a robot voice, he didnt know the words or even that it was his turn to say something. It was so funny. (Picture of Michael and JoCo, courtesy of AntonOlsen)

Unfortunately as this was part way through the second set, we were picking and choosing which songs to record because we were running out of tape/batter power (If we had known it would have been a double set concert, we would have brought a second tape!). Therefore, [livejournal.com profile] lordaerith decided not to record Chiron Beta Prime because "It's a Christmas song and it's not Christmas time." Also because I don't think he likes it very much, even though I do. Therefore, unless someone else was taping the concert (or just that moment) it will not be up on YouTube. Much sadness.


After the show we hung around for a little while to see if JoCo wanted to come to [livejournal.com profile] noeticist's party, but he had a lot to do, so we left. But not before I got to take a picture with him:

Jonathan Coulton and Me, after the show.

athene: (Dragon Cake)
Went to NYE party at [livejournal.com profile] noeticist and [livejournal.com profile] seripis house. I baked two cakes for the occasion, a golden Dragon cake and a chocolate Castle cake.





The party was a lot of fun and the cakes went over really well.

The next day we went back to the house and played Rock Band.

Since NYE I've mostly been hanging around the house getting house work done and dealing with the Washer Saga™. Got the oil changed on the Camry on Thurs. Realized when I got home that they put in regular oil instead of the synthetic, even though I'd asked for the synthetic. Called them up (as they were about to close) and they said I could bring it back on Friday and they'd fix it. I brought it back after [livejournal.com profile] lordaerith got home from work and they put in the right oil and gave it a car wash for free. :)

Today I'm hoping to go see Enchanted. It's such a nice day out too. In the mid-70s.
athene: (Who Dat! Saints!)
Recently [livejournal.com profile] lordaerith and I visited my mother and sister in New Orleans for a week.

Let me tell you about it. No, it's too long, let me sum up : we drove in with [livejournal.com profile] iskanderia on Friday Dec. 21, went to the reception for my 10 year HS reunion, visited a bunch with [livejournal.com profile] artemis42 and [livejournal.com profile] daobear, had breakfast with the Mad Russian and her hubby, went shopping with [livejournal.com profile] queencimmy, went to a Solstice Party, ate brunch at Antione's with [livejournal.com profile] artemis42 and [livejournal.com profile] daobear, wandered around the Quarter, hung out at home, enjoyed mom's cooking and baking, helped around the house, played Guitar Hero, gave and received presents, saw Juno, enjoyed expected and unexpected visits with friends, got our hair done, talked about my Capstone project, worked on this fun game as a family, and drove home again on Thurs. Dec. 27.

The full story with a few pictures (in case you're interested) )

In other news, being home is good. Our cats are cuddly. We bought a deep fryer for almost $50 off the ticketed price (floor model + 20% off coupon). I broke our Cocomotion (sadness).

PARTY!!!

Sep. 23rd, 2007 05:13 pm
athene: (me profile - ren)
Hey Austin Peoples,

It's my Golden Birthday on Friday. That's right, I'm turning 28 on the 28th!

We're going to celebrate at Blazer Tag. I've reseved 3 games with 20 people per game max (if there is more, it's fine, but there's no guarantee of space past 20). Check in time is at 8pm (please be prompt), and the games are at 8:20, 9:00, and 9:40. Games last about 20 minutes. If we end up not playing the last game, that's cool.

Each game costs $6. We have to pay as a group, so please bring cash for each game you intent to play.

Go to http://www.blazertag.com/ for more information about Blazer Tag.

If you want to carpool down, we can all meet at my place (email if you need directions) around 7. We'll be leaving no later than 7:30 to head down there.

If you have any other questions, please let me know.

HP Party

Jul. 21st, 2007 12:55 pm
athene: (Coat of Arms)
Last night Mommy and I (did I mention that Mom's been in town since Sunday??) went to the Harry Potter party at BookPeople with Bubbles and FireCat. Unfortunately Bubbles lost her voucher and so she decided to leave. The party was crazy huge. Over 1200 vouchers had been purchased. My number was 1170. There were a lot of people who had dressed up, which was awesome. I didn't get my book until almost 1:30am. I came home and read two chapters in the bathroom so I didn't wake up [livejournal.com profile] lordaerith, but then a warm husband in bed won out over the book (shock, I know), so I went to sleep.

Other than that, I've been having a good week. Still recovering from hugging the rock on Sunday. Getting to hang out with mommy is awesome. Haven't really gotten to show her too much of Austin because I've had to do stuff for my TAship, including teaching two lab sessions. But I think she's having a good time. Did get to take her to UT and to Karaoke with Bubbles, FireCat, and Punk on Tuesday. [livejournal.com profile] lordaerith took her furniture and outlet shopping on Wed and Fri while I had to work. Also took her to Half Price Books (v. dangerous).

Ok, time to shower and get back to HP7.

Wheeee

Jun. 17th, 2007 02:24 pm
athene: (happy)
Wow, it's been a couple of crazy busy days for us.

On Thursday we went to Shinma's birthday party at Elysium. There were lots of cool people there, and I really started to feel like "part of the group." Had a good time talking with people and being at the club. Unfortunately they played mostly electronic/techno stuff, even though Allycat and I went up to the DJ booth and requested "swirly gothy stuff."

On Friday there was an "Art Party" at Allycat's place. We got there a little late (due to me taking a 3 hour nap upon getting home), but still got to hang out with people. Played some Bust-A-Movie and Guitar Hero. Talked about also sorts of various things. Felt really good. Like we were finally part of a group. And it's a group that likes us, understands our references, and basically talks the same language as we do.

Yesterday [livejournal.com profile] lordaerith stayed home, but I went to AC&B J's place for bbq and swimming with peoples. Just hanging out with people was lots of fun. The bbq was good. I traded some of my two zucchinis for parts of other people's steaks, which worked out really well. Once they convinced me to get in the water, we had a lot of silly fun. After swimming there was pie (mmm...pie), and hanging out at the apartment and then ACJ decided to put on Clueless. The two of us proceeded to quote the whole thing...hehehe.

There was talk of going to a movie or hanging out at [livejournal.com profile] drackyyn's place...but I may just stay home.

Tomorrow is [livejournal.com profile] lordaerith and my two year. If the weather's good, we're hoping to go to Schlitterbahn to celebrate.

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