ahh, i had the best weekend i’ve had in a long while. it was so disappointing to wake up this morning and feel the cool breeze coming through my window and know that i had to get up and go to work. ugh. 🙂
friday: nine of us met at debbie’s apartment and headed up to buca di beppo, a family-style italian restaurant, for dinner. we had soooo much food, but it was all really good, and we all left very stuffed. the restaurant was decorated in a funky way, with random pictures all over the walls and even a table with a bust of the pope on it–the “pope’s head table.” and there was a table in the kitchen too. weird! the funniest part was when debbie and i went to the bathroom, and discovered vintage signs all over the walls proclaiming the benefits of a certain kind of lipstick, and telling a lady where she should keep her hands while on a date (that one was crude but very funny). yum.
after dinner, the group split up, and nacho, jason, debbie, rick and i ended up coming back to clear lake and going to the bowling alley for rock ‘n bowl from 11 to 2 a.m. rock ‘n bowl is where they turn off the lights, turn on black lights, and play really loud music while you bowl. it was fun, and i learned two things in succession. one, i can bowl better with my left hand than my right, which is very strange because i’m right-handed, and two, for years and years i have been bowling the wrong way. yeah, so when i fixed the way i released the ball i did much better, and my right hand once again became superior to my left. yeah, i felt pretty stupid after that. 😉
saturday: i got up at 9 and headed to the soccer fields for our 10:15 game. though we lost again (sigh), we played well i thought. i got to play stopper this time instead of just defensive wing, and i really enjoyed that and make a couple good stops. there were a few bad calls by the ref that didn’t go our way or we might have won. maybe next week…
after soccer i came home and quickly showered before heading to pe-te’s for buzz’s d.phil. celebration lunch. i thoroughly enjoyed my cajun bbq and beans and rice, and then after hanging out for a while i finally got on the road to garner state park around 3:30. it was about a 300 mile drive (about an hour west of san antonio), and so i finally got to the campground just after 8:00. of course it was already dark, so i just joined gavin, jen, lauren and melissa around the campfire for a few hours before setting up my borrowed tent and falling asleep.
sunday: i woke up around 9:30 when my tent suddenly became an oven as the sun rose above the trees. gavin and jen were already up, and lauren and melissa followed shortly. after breakfast and some relaxation, lauren and melissa left (they had other plans), and gavin, jen, their dogs and i drove about 30 miles to lost maples state park and hiked a 5-mile trail up and down a hill and through a lot of maple trees that were just starting to change colors. in a couple weeks i bet the colors will be fabulous, but they were pretty good as they were. the dogs enjoyed the hike and were completely worn out by the time we got back to the car. we got back to the campground about 5:00 and got a fire started before the sun went down completely. i wandered down to the river for a little while and when i came back, gavin and jen were getting out the hot dogs to roast in the fire. mmm. i’m firmly convinced that there are only two places where hot dogs really are the perfect food–at a baseball game, and while camping. later on, we star-gazed and made s’mores and finally headed to bed.
monday: i woke up again when my tent started to swelter, and soon remarked to gavin that “it’s 9:30 in the morning, we’re sitting here enjoying the day, and we’re getting paid to do it!” he laughed. we definitely took advantage of our paid veteran’s day holiday. 🙂 anyway, we packed up our tents and i left the campground around 10:30 and arrived back at my apartment about 10 minutes after 3:00. after a quick shower and unpacking, i met betsy, buzz, katie, and stephanie at betsy’s apartment and headed downtown for our girl’s night out.
it wasn’t meant to be girls only specifically, but it ended up that way. we had dinner at this fabulous cuban restaurant near the theater district, and then walked the three blocks to jones hall to hear maya angelou speak as part of a “unique lives and experiences” series. it was cool. though i have to admit that her topic was merely a typical maya angelou subject–about how all people are “composers” and how you never know whose life you might touch–i could listen to her speak all night. her voice was just so calm and soothing. and i loved the way she’d crack herself up from time to time–telling a story and just start laughing. it was a really enjoyable evening.
tuesday: and now my glorious 3-day weekend is over and i’m back at work. 🙁 softball tonight for the first time in a month, because it’s amazingly not raining!
