Whhhaaaatttttt is going on?

Hello fine people who read this blog (Mom),

I am sorry for the delay in writing a regular blog. I have shirked my duties and am trying to make up for it now. Wow, where did we leave off? I guess we can go off of Madeline's MaleMale blog which was early November. A few very significant things have happened in between then and now. For one, I went home for the first time since leaving Texas!

My sister (Beth) got married to a heck of a catch, Mark Peluse.  The wedding was amazing! I'm not going to lie, a few tears were shed during the ceremony but that led to unbridled joy as I saw how happy and elated my sister was. The reception was at a Spanish Tapas restaurant Meson Sebika. All I can say is, Oh My Aguh! The food was excellent and fun cause it was family "tapas" style so everyone had to interact at your table together. The reception space was set up gorgeously and everything looked perfect. I had a great time catching up with everyone and I am sorry if I couldn't talk forever with you as I wanted to make sure I talked to as many people as I could since I didn't know the next time I would have the chance.

Work has been going well. We are almost done with our "High Season" as those of you back at Binny's knows, there is no rest until January haha. I have been working avg 55 hour weeks which can pay a toll on the body but the paycheck is worth it haha. Working customer service is never the best job around the holidays as I am finding out again that I ruin Christmas on a daily basis this week haha.

I have painted the middle of my apartment these last two weeks. It creates some nice color between my white walls of my living room and bedroom. The dining room is a nice almost olive green which really makes the apt. look great. Madeline also helped in that endeavor. She also gave me a great gift for my living room walls. She took two photos (one of the Austin Skyline and the other of Chicago) and had engineering prints (large scale 24x36") made of the photos and had them framed. So I now have great views of the two cities I love.

This past weekend was busy and relaxing at the same time. On Saturday, I didn't have to go into work which was nice. Madeline met with her friend and decorated a tree on The Capital of Texas Highway (360 for those in the know). This has become an Austin tradition even though it's not technically legal. For a stretch of the highway, people choose a tree (cedar most likely) and decorate it like a Christmas tree. Madeline's friend Becky scouted out a tree which is no easy feat as they go quickly regardless of legality haha. They donned the usual trimmings: ornaments, tinsel, and other stuff. It really is pretty cool to drive that stretch and see all the different tree decorating ideas people come up with. While they were off doing that I was cleaning my apt. in preparation of a momentous Sunday to come. LOTR (Lord of the Rings) DAY!

As many of you know, and for those who don't, my friends and I celebrate LOTR Day every year by watching all 3 extended versions in a row. 12 hours of Middle Earth mayhem!! We started this tradition in 2007 and during the opening speech (traditionally given by my friend Braden whom we had speakerphoned in this year) made note of this fact saying that the year we started, the first iPhone was being released!! How crazy is that! Anyway, we had one addition in Austin other than Madeline and myself. My friend Patrick Owens (PO for short) joined us for a movie before he had to go volunteer at the Trail of Lights (more on this in a second). Fun was had by all and delicious food was enjoyed by us haha. One such dish was Madeline's hash brown casserole. Soo delicious. It has all you need, eggs, bacon, hash browns, cheese yummm!!

Speaking of Trail of Lights (nice segue huh), this week is the opening week of Austin's famous Trail of Lights. To open the lights, they held a 5k race which Mad's and I took part in. There were about 8,000 people and it ran around Zilker Park in the dark (we were provided with glow stick necklaces for the really dark areas) and then through the actual Trail of Lights in all it's glory and splendor! Man it looked amazing. It's like any of the houses back home that have crazy amounts of decorations but it is confined to about a half mile stretch of road in the park. Super fun to run by.

As Christmas approaches (I even put up a Christmas tree in my apt!!) I want to wish everyone a happy and safe holiday and I hope you all get the pony you asked for. I am sorry there are a lack of pictures but I do not have internet at home so I am at a Starbucks writing this blog post. I will try to post pics once I can get them all in one easy to access location. Or if Mad's reads this, she can add some to the post haha. Anyway, I miss everyone a lot and love to chat or text so if you want to talk feel free to call/text. You can also write and I will write back. Have a great holiday everyone!

This post's recipe is Madeline's Hash Brown Casserole. Enjoy everyone! I think it will be great for Christmas if you have more than 2 mouths to feed haha. I linked it above because I can't seem to copy and paste the recipe into the blog. Anywheezy, Have a great week everyone and may Santa bring you all you asked for!!