my how times flies...

how is it possibly october 21st? that means it's almost halloween, then the Cal/USC game, then thanksgiving, then christmas (and hanukkah) and then 2006. whoa.

life has been crazy with a capital C. i am going to rewind to October 5 at 7:10pm when Sarah (best friend since preschool) got in on her southwest flight. not that i picked her up or anything, since i was in the middle of FROZEN FYSH (first year students at hillel - ice cream night). so, dane (my savior, as of late) was nice enough to do the duties...he got sarah and brought her to my place, and by my place, i mean hillel. this is where i spend most of my time, anyway. so i guess calling it home isnt so incorrect.

from the moment dane and sarah walked up the stairs of hillel, my life became non-stop madness. i mean madness in the best sense of the word--crazy good times, drunken evenings and late nights. but it was definitely madness.

so, here's the recap. it was a lot packed into a few days, so it's all kinda a big blur...ill tell it as best i can.

wednesday night, after the initial hugs and catching up, we were off to trudy's so that sarah and dane could get some food, and drinks. other people met up with us and sarah tried queso (we will call this queso Q1...rating: 8/10) for the first time. for those of you who don't know the amazingness that is queso, here is a clue: it's much more than just "cheese" in spanish. i will leave it at that--you gotta come to texas to try it for yourself. after some drinks and good eats at trudys it was on to "the hole in the wall," a bar by campus that lives up to its name. there was a fun band playing and sarah even did the two step.

thursday i went into work and sarah did some shopping in the cute south congress area. she didnt buy much but loved the hip shops they have down there. after work, it was home for a few moments or relaxation. just when i thought i was tired, it was time to get primped for our night out. we met up with dane and adam at zTejas, a wonderful restaurant. the food was good but the margaritas were better. well, it would have just been margaritA, but dane decided sarah and i deserved a night of drunkeness, so he bought us a second round and also a top shelf shot of tequila and then dropped us girls off on 6th street. sarah and i basically pretended we were 1) on real world and 2) college sophomores. we went to all the out of control bars and did a lot of dancing and then, after last call, found a crazy cab driver to take us back. we almost didnt have enough cash to pay for the ride, even after making the driver stop at 7-11 so we could get cash back. oops! but we made it and even got to give the driver a therapy session.

the next morning i went into work while sarah slept soundly and then dane got to have her for a few hours. they came to shabbat dinner here and then a group of us went to see a show at alamo drafthouse--my fav movie theatre. but they do more than movies. we saw the sinus show (here's where the name comes from: mystery science theatre --> mystery sinus theatre --> sinus show) , which is basically 3 guys who make jokes all through a movie. it's pretty hilarious. we ordered queso (Q2...rating: 2/10). sarah thought this queso was horrible and we all agreed. elch, tasted like velvetta. after that, it was off to speakeasy. we got 1/2 off the cover charge and got to listen to a great latin band AND some tunisian guy taught me to salsa. wow, what a night.

so saturday morning rolled around and sarah and i didn't take time to relax. we woke up early enough to get in a run at the beautiful town lake and stop by the grocery store on the way to dane's so that we could contribute some wonderful food to the BBQ. the BBQ was in honor of the texas-OU game, and not only was the food awesome, but texas did some old fashioned butt kicking. lovely. we took a break from sports by going to The Oasis, a restaurant that overlooks Lake Austin. we watched a breath-taking sunset and had a generally good time. Sarah wanted some more queso (Q3...rating: 1/10). this queso was horrendous and even made dane and sarah a little sick. adam and i win for not having any!

once the sun had set, we went back to danes for some more sports. the cal game. not the highlight of the weekend--that's all i will say about that. and, even after all of that craziness, sarah convinced me and dane to go out. we went to a chill bar on 6th and listened to a cool band that was pretty impressive and did a little dancing (see photo). then we went to sleep. a long long sleep.

sunday we finally slept in, and boy did i need it. it felt great. then it was off to the BBQ festival (first annual in austin) where we really didnt do much of anything. EXCEPT--i tried the spiciest substance on earth. they put a tiny TINY bit on a toothpick and you touch your tongue with it. it is amazingly crazily hot. i cant explain it except to say that i (supposedly) turned as red as a red delicious apple, was sweating like i just got out of spin class and was crying like a baby. i dont even remember it very well. i kinda felt like i was on drugs. the pain didnt go away for a few hours. seriously, it's really unbelievable. since the BBQ festival was kinda a bust and we were too late for most of the samples, we headed to rudys for some real BBQ. it was as good as i remembered and so satisfying. then we headed south back to my place to watch some high quality tv. oh man, i needed that. mean-eyed cat was our next destination becuase it's one of my favorite spots. we thought there was going to be a band, but instead that 6 of us had to entertain ourselves. that wasnt hard at all! we then needed a late night snack, so kerbey lane was our spot. sarah got queso (Q4...rating: 7/10) and i got my favorite pancakes. yum!

monday it was back to work and later in the afternoon sarah game around for a campus tour. after work we went to el chile, my fav fav favorite restaurant with lots of friends and had a good ol time. then, it was back home for some monday night baseball padres style. then i think we went to bed. i dont remember if anything else happened, but i will just leave it at that. tuesday morning, i dropped sarah off at the airport at 6am and then went back to sleep. wonderful.

then high holidays came and went...i repented for my sins by fasting. and i had a weekend of house cleaning and hibernation...much needed! now it's back to the usual--spending time with friends and working way too much, but loving it.

last night i had my first taste of amy's ice cream. it's the coolest place ever. much like coldstones, but way better. they actually mix it thouroughly and they are hilarious. i asked for a sample of pumpkin ice cream and the guy said if i caught the sample spoon in my mouth when he threw it i would get half off my ice cream. guess what? i did it! then the he tried to catapult ari's ice cream across the counter to ari, who had two bowls to catch it. hehe, that didnt work. it ended up hitting the other worker guy in the eye. it was so funny.

ok, that's it for now.

as my mom says, life is good. =)