words

I was waiting for my train the other day, and realizing I had nothing to read, ending up buying the most recent edition of The Best American Nonrequired Reading. I actually haven't really read any of the Best American series since I was in college and we were assigned The Best American Magazine Writing edition for a class. But I read this in the introduction, and I love what the writer, Walter Mosley, wrote about reading: 

"In the modern world reading is an essential activity like eating or loving, or going to war or even surrendering to a truth that, because it's undeniable, is also inescapable. Reading, I believe, is one of the few activities that increases, deepens, and expands the capacity of the human mind; it is a process that is at once conscious and unconscious, personal and solitary but also interpersonal and even social." —Walter Mosley 

You can read the whole introduction here. 

photo credit: Bravo_Zulu_ via photopin cc

Fall, this year

This is a photo of the leaves on a tree in our backyard. Obviously. Simple enough.

 It’s cheesy, for sure, but sometimes it’s just really nice to find pretty things that you weren’t expecting to be there. 

Weekend in Austin

When I made my “30 before 30” list last year, visit Austin was pretty high up there. But just like number 13, go horseback riding, and number 15, win a radio contest, it never actually happened. (Though number 12, visit San Francisco, did, so I’m considering it a win.) So I moved it to this year’s list and, go figure, not even a month after my birthday, I crossed it off.

It was actually pretty spur-of-the-moment too—we bought our tickets just a week before leaving. But we had the perfect excuse: Italians. I don’t know about you, but I think having tourists in town is the ideal excuse to do fun things that you’ve always said you wanted to do but haven’t actually done. Walk across the Brooklyn Bridge? Did it this summer. Go apple picking for the first time? Did it four fall’s ago. See the Thanksgiving Day parade? Did it a few years before that (and won’t ever do it again.)

This time, we found out that two of John’s cousins from Italy were coming in to visit their brother, who’s studying in Texas, for a couple weeks. We decided to meet in Austin, and John, my sister-in-law Jen, and I flew down.

The weekend was the best time: We rented a house, we slept in, we walked up and down South Congress, we drove to San Antonio, and we ate. In fact: Make a list of stereotypically American foods (hello donuts, cupcakes, and bbq) and eat them all over 3 days? Did it on this trip.

A few photos:

Since there were 6 of us, we rented a big car (I mean, when in Texas..) so we could actually all fit. 

After brunch at Magnolia, we drove to San Antonio for the afternoon. 

The water was dirty, but the bikes were pretty. 

Back in Austin 

Words of wisdom, on South Congress 

Cheers to Texas beer and bbq