Summertime

houston_city_library houston_art

watercolor test

My summer break flew by and it’ll be over in a few days. Can’t believe it. Besides working on the store, and lesson-planning for school, I’ve been carving out time for personal projects. I’m not pleased with most of it, but it’s felt great to test things out and begin routines—to return to the habit of creating. Ideally, the creative misses will eventually lead to hits.

I also took my first dance class, in modern dance, at the Houston Metropolitan Dance center. Although I was nervous, my love for SYTYCD carried me through. Who knew pointing your toes could be so hard?!

Summer has also given BJ and I time to explore more of Houston—many for the first time. Last week, we stopped by the Central Library, got our cards, and checked out as many books as we could carry. We finally walked to the Sicardi Gallery literally around the corner from us. We enjoyed the shrimp egg rolls and lobster with our family at Tay Do restaurant. But we also stopped by old stand-bys: the Menil, where I got a little teary to see the same guard who was on duty in 2009 at the Twombly Gallery when BJ proposed; beating the lines with an early dinner at Tiger Den, where we tried the pandan custard donuts; and pizza and my favorite fries at Kenneally’s Pub.

 

Lake Austin

Julia Double Austin2

BJ Lake Austin2

Lake Austin Lights2

A few weekends ago, we got a text really late at night asking if we wanted  to take a trip to Austin in the morning. duh! For some reason BJ and I decided to start roasting a chicken around midnight, instead of packing and resting for the trip. So we only got a little bit of sleep before, we met up with 26 other cousins (more or less, I loss count) and caravanned to Lake Austin. Some of us only had 10 minutes notice to pack, but I’m so happy so many people could go. We jet skied, played volleyball with strangers, grilled, swam, got tangled in seaweed multiple times, and squeezed everyone into 4 hotel rooms at the end of the night. We ended the trip with a finger lickin’ meal at Salt Lick. Mmm, summer.