It was a great night of brown rice and veggies, burgers, and of course., doggy chow. Who doesn't just love doggy chow? We all got together for Karin's B-day and watched ShowGirls. As most people know, this movie sucks. No really...I mean it's terrible. Well, like turning a lump of coal into a diamond, David Schmader comes to the rescue. You see this dude, David, while watching the movie one day totally started making fun of it. Eventually, he has a script worked up and is touring the country spoofing this movie--which it so deserves. Next thing you know, MGM calls the dude up and asks him to do a commentary track on a special edition VIP edition. You've got to hear it. We had the opportunity to see him do his bit live at the Alamo Draft House here in Austin. What a trip that was. Hats off and many thanks to Marissa, V, and Karen Jones for all the food and decorations. What a great theme party if you are into those sorts of things. This party rocked and the movie will have you laughing your ass off. T

Why would you spend a lazy Sunday at home when you can get 15 or so people together, spend $1 each, hop on a city bus, and spend the day visiting random dive bars and taverns? I can't think of a reason either. Everyone had a great time on Marissa's birthday. Casey and Terry planned a great crawl and may have turned a few more people on to public transport in the process. If you look at the pictures on Flickr, you will see lots of unicorns. Marissa liked unicorns before the pub crawl, but I'm not sure how she feels about them after riding the bus dressed as one! We started the day with brunch at Trudy's and then the Burnet Road Pub Crawl was on!!! We walked to Buddy's Place and Waterloo Ice House, then hopped on the bus to visit the Brentwood Tavern. (Really good times at this place: $1 Lone Stars and a DJ spinning some Texas country on the deck.) After Brentwood, our group split for the Poodle Dog Lounge...I say split because half of us walked and the other half road the bus.  Poodle Dog has shuffle board, pool tables, and no shortage of random characters. (One guy informed me that he was "out of pills." Not sure if he meant for him or me, but I went and hid behind Craig at that point.) Still being in a sporting mood, our next stop was Ginny's Little Longhorn. Dale Watson was not there this Sunday :( but there was still live music and Chicken Sh*t Bingo. This is not to be missed if you happen into Austin on a Sunday evening.  Billy was there enjoying the action so we didn't see him at our next stop...Billy's on Burnet. Some people were smart enough to eat some food at this point...some of us were not. We hung on the deck and a few more crawlers showed up before we hit our final stop: The Draught House. It was starting to get dark when we got there and the harsh realization that we all had to work the next day was setting in. We finished up the poker round---Marissa passed out cards at each bar---and declared a winner. There was talk of cheating, but I think Longhorn Liz won fair and square. I don't know how the evening ended for everyone else because some people stayed at the Draught House when we hopped on the #3 and headed back north to Trudy's. We had an awesome time and made it home early enough to relax before bed and the coming work week.

We went to our first tailgate of 2007 this weekend. (We missed Week 1 because we were in Indiana.) It was ridiculously hot, but plenty of folks came out to pregame. The tailgate we attend has an awesome setup: an Airstream Bambi, satellite dish, big screen TV, couch, 2-3 kegs, Longhorn lemonade, great food, and lots of great people. The Fur attended her first (and last) tailgate. I think she was a little freaked out by all the people, and I spent the whole time worrying about her. (This is one of those times when I should have listened to Terry.) I am so glad that the Skalkas were kind enough to let her cool off in the Bambi. (Christi even spent some snuggle time with her to make sure she felt at home.) Black fur coats are just not appropriate for tailgating in Texas in September. Karin saved me, the Fur, and Elli from certain heat stroke and took us to her house for cocktails, football, and pizza. Oh, happy day!

Our Labor Day trip went by so quickly, but we all agreed it exceeded our expectations. It was tough to get up and pack for the airport, especially after a long evening of chatting, feeding sheep, drinking wine, eating cheese, and playing games on the wii. (The bull riding game is my new favorite.) We snarfed a little leftover pizza for breakfast so that we'd have time to visit the farm before we had to head to the airport. The farm looks about like I remembered it, minus some buildings and the hog houses. The field was full of feed corn that was almost ready for harvest. The barn is the part I remembered the most, probably because I spent every available moment searching it for kittens when I was little. No kittens anymore, but lots of memories. I was glad Terry got to see it, and I am glad it's still in the family. After a last little bite to eat--yes, we did eat constantly on this trip---and lots of goodbye hugs at the airport, we went to wait for the plane that would take us back to Texas. As a side note, I must highly recommend the Samuel Adams pub on Concourse B in the Indianapolis airport. I know that's kind of random, but the bartenders were just particularly nice and friendly in providing the magical elixir that makes it possible for me to fly in a plane without completely flipping out. I am also happy to report that our flight attendants were much nicer on the way back, and Terry and I got to sit together without a guy giving me Sudoku advice over my shoulder the entire way. Casey and Marissa scooped us up without a hitch at ABIA (even though it was rainy and yucky) and then fed us some yummy veggie chili. (Our spice quotient was a bit low after being in the Midwest.) The Fur has a blast with Jaxson and the rest of the Matison family while we were gone, but I think she was happy to be home too.

After a good night's sleep at Clint and Tif's in Chicago, it was time to head back to Indiana but not before an awesome brunch at the Dixie Kitchen & Bait Shop (where they even had chicory coffee for Terry) and a little site-seeing. We took a drive along Lakeshore and through Evanston (gorgeous homes), drove past Northwest and Loyola Universities, saw Soldier Field, and even talk a walk on the beach on the shores of Lake Michigan. Loved Chicago...what a great city!!! On the way back to Bert and Bill's, we stopped at Fair Oaks Farm, which is a huge working dairy farm complete with a giant milking carousel-type thing; guided tours; a store with fresh cheeses, ice cream, and other dairy products; and a birthing barn where you can watch calves being born. We were lucky enough to see an 80-lb baby born while we were there, the third calf born that day. We enjoyed some ice cream and bought some cheese for later before getting back on the road. Our last stop on the way home was Vickie's Dad's and Bill's alma mater, Purdue University, home of the Boilermakers. We saw a lot of the campus as well as the site of Vickie's parents first home and the Tippecanoe County Courthouse where they met. Apparently being on a college campus made us all crave pizza because we chowed down in West Lafayette before going back home.

After a good night’s sleep we woke up to the sounds of sheep and got ready to head to Chicago to see Clint and Tiffany. We ate a big IHOP breakfast on our way through Lafayette. There is always something nice about a leisurely breakfast on the weekend. Terry helped Bill navigate with the help of Nancy (their GPS system) while Bert and I caught up of family stuff. The weather in Chicago was absolutely beautiful and it was fun looking at all of the architecture on the drive in. We arrived at Clint and Tiffany’s condo around 10:30 and got the tour. The have an awesome place in Rogers Park with a Starbucks, sushi, the elevated train, a beach, and a movie theater all in walking distance. It’s also very close to Loyola University and the people watching out their front window is fabulous! After hanging out, having a pre-game beer or two, and petting their two black kitties—Martin and Malcolm—we headed for the Red Line that would take us to Wrigley Field. Terry and I totally dug the train. Gotta love public transport. Terry and I had our Astros gear on, but most people were really friendly at the game. The first-baseline seats that Bert got for us were perfect. I brought my Craig Biggio 3000-hit shirt, but unfortunately he didn’t play on Saturday. (Terry’s speculation was that he took the day off to watch the opening weekend of college football, which is a distinct possibility.) Although the Astros won with Wandy Rodriguez on the mound on Friday night, we did not get to see them win on Saturday. Probably just as well since partying with happy cubs fans seems safer than with angry, disappointed ones. Besides, a 3-4 loss to a team at the top of our division isn’t so bad considering we are in the cellar at the moment. After an exciting game filled with beer, hot dog, and random silliness, we headed out onto Clark Street to party with the masses. It was awesome!!! Bars line both sides of the street and most of them have Big Ten signs hanging outside so you can choose the appropriate camp. No LSU or Longhorn bars of course, but we got love from the other Astros fans that we saw. We tried to go to the Cubby Bear where Tif and Clint met, but there was a line out the door, so we headed down to The Ivy on Clark, which seemed to be Ohio State Buckeye headquarters on this particular day. Beer, shots, dancing, college football, and an interloping bachelor party ensued. So much fun!!! At one point, we had to make that critical party decision—kill it or feed it? We chose to feed it so we partied until dinner time instead of going back to the condo and attempting to make ourselves more attractive. We hopped back on the El and headed for dinner at the Weber Grill, which is a midwestern chain steakhouse that uses huge Weber grills to cook beef, beef, and more beef. (Jenn Matison and the Texas Beef Council would be proud.) We ate a fabulous dinner and then hopped back on the train to go home. (I was actually so full and tired that I took a nap on Grier’s shoulder.) Back at the condo, we caught up on college football scores—Appalacian State beat who???—and looked at the pictures from the day before getting some much needed rest.

We flew out of Austin on Friday afternoon after rushing home from work and finishing packing. Casey was kind enough to drive us to the airport since he was picking Marissa up from her Singapore trip. We even got to see her in the baggage claim area before we left. Thankfully we had a cocktail and grabbed some Mangia pizza before we got on the plane because the days of free snacks on airlines are apparently over, which is completely outrageous. I expect to pay for drinks on a plane, but $3 for a cookie and $2 for water? Forget it! Our S80 aircraft made me a bit nervous since it was old enough to still have an ashtray in the restroom door. I think our snarky flight attendants were part of the original crew too. (We jokingly referred to them as the Golden Girls.) After touching down in Dallas, we were notified that we would be on the ground for an additional hour because of weather back east, but we couldn't leave the plane or use cell phones during this time. I am not a fan of flying and this did not help to ease the tension. Fortunately, I had sudoku, pizza, and The Grier to entertain me. We arrived in Indianapolis an hour later than expected. Bert and Bill had been waiting at the airport since we weren't able to let them know we were delayed. Ah, the joys of traveling! It was good to finally be there though and we went to dinner in Indianapolis before heading to their place in Rossville. I hadn't been to their house in over 15 years, so there we lots of cool updates, including a totally redone kitchen that was finished that day.

We had an awesome time on our whirlwind Labor Day trip to Indiana and Chicago. We went to the farm, Wrigley field, had several animal encounters, visited the Purdue campus, and ate and drank way too much. The only regret is that we didn't get to spend more time there.