Troubles McSteans

Just wanted to give a quick shout out to my soon to be sister-in-law, Kristen, whose birthday is today. Kristen is very cool and a real sweetheart and I couldn't be happier that Doug has invited her to join our family. I hope you have a great day, K, and Happy Birthday! Kristen in her natural habitat

So, my mother has always had this weird thing against blue foods. Luckily there aren't that many edible items that come in blue, but it does mean she abstains from things like blueberry pancakes and blue M&Ms. Yes, you heard me. Blue M&Ms. Don't ask, I don't even know. This morning I tried out a new snack item. We generally don't keep a lot of sugary foods in the house, unlike a few years ago. I no longer have cookies stashed in the cupboard or bags of Skittles and Hot Tamales lying around. I very rarely even indulge in my nightly bowl of cereal anymore. What I do enjoy is a mid-morning or post dialysis snack of Eggos and Starbucks frappuccino. Don't judge! Hey, the Eggos are Nutri-Grain, that's kinda healthy, right? Anyway, the last time I was at the store I thought I would branch out and try the blueberry flavor Eggos and this morning I cracked open the box for the first time. Immediately upon placing the Eggos on the plate I suspected there ...

Tomorrow is the birthday of two of my favorite people, my mom and my good friend Nicole. Saturday night a group of us gathered at the Z Tejas to celebrate Nicole's birthday a wee bit early. We then ventured out to Donn's Depot for drinks. Matt and Nicole enjoying the ambiance and fuzzy wallpaper of the Donn's. Juan and his new friend who kept appearing to stand mute by our table. We chose to call him "Steve". Tonight Ryan and I made our way south to San Marcos for some dinner and cake to celebrate my mom's birthday. My folks have just returned from their trek to Brazil and were sharing stories and some amazing pictures of their adventure. My mom's favorite cake is called Helen Corbitt chocolate cake and has this caramel icing that is easy to royally screw up. I set out yesterday afternoon to attempt making this cake and decided, "Hey, if I'm already making one cake, I should just go ahead and make another for Nicole!" Mom and cake The ca...

*Go here for video that doesn't get cut off on the side. Thanks to the Dug for the link

We're back! Here are some pictures of our trip in mostly chronological order: This was our view of San Francisco across the Bay from our hotel room at the Doubletree Marina Hotel in Berkeley. Doug informed me that the clouds were haze, not smog. No, really. Tilden Park Botanical Garden. Having just gotten off the plane from Austin, Ryan and I spent most of the time in awe that it was mid afternoon and we weren't dead from heat. I also managed to get caught in the sprinklers three times. Window Lion at Mr. Mopps Toy Shop in Berkeley, where I purchased a kick ass clock. You should come see it sometime. Fisherman's Wharf. Fisherman's Wharf with Alcatraaaaaaaz! in the background. It was a clear day, but we still couldn't see the Golden Gate bridge. It was pretty much wearing a nice layer of clouds the entire time we were there. We did drive over it on Saturday, though. Waiting for the cable car, being serenaded by a street trumpeter with the talent of a six...

This is most likely the last you'll hear from me before next week, seeing as Ryan and I are off to the Bay Area tomorrow. We'll be taking some long overdue vacation (we haven't had a trip that didn't involve being frozen in horror in our hotel room by 9/11 coverage since our honeymoon in 2000) and visiting with Doug and Kristen. The weather looks to be perfect this week - 57°-80° every day and sunny so hopefully it will be a good trip. I'm blogging at 6:30 in the morning because I got up early to shuttle my Brazil bound parents to the airport. My brain could not process the situation when my alarm went off at 5:30 and the room was pitch black. I love how the first conclusion I always make is that I must have made a mistake and set my alarm for midnight or something. I am now attempting to gnaw my way through what tastes like a three day old sausage biscuit from McDonald's. Maybe not the best decision to consume fast food when we'll be eating out all we...

Today was the first time we've been able to visit Barton Springs in about 3 weeks and it happened to be a free day. We'd already planned to head out early to try and beat the crowds, but then discovered by watching News 8 that there was no fee at the pool today, which meant to expect an absolute zoo. After swinging by the Hop-a-Long Lounge to collect Jason, we arrived poolside around 11:30. I finally got the chance to use my new $.99* float, which was nice. Floats are perfect at Barton Springs. It's too cold to remain submerged for any length of time and it gets too hot sitting up on the hill. If you're camped up on a float you can splash yourself every so often to cool off. Anyhoo, after we'd been in the water for about 10 minutes, Ryan spotted a man in distress being treated poolside. We couldn't figure out if he was having heart issues or couldn't breathe, or what, but EMS showed up and eventually carted him off. He appeared to be conscious and tal...