Hello! I’m back! And rather than bore you with where I’ve been (hint: not Bali), I will just say that I have been exceedingly busy (as usual). But anyway, blah-dee-blah, I survived. And in the meantime, N and I managed to get away for Valentine’s Day. Sort of.
Speaking of surviving, he ran his first official half-marathon! I am just so proud of him. First of all, I can’t imagine running 13.1 miles. Unless I was being chased. (And probably not even then.) Secondly, I just think it’s awesome how dedicated he’s become to running, and how far he’s come in such a short time. Good job, babe!
We managed to find time to go out to dinner on Saturday night before the race. (My parents had the kids for the weekend.) If you’re ever in Austin, I highly recommend The Belmont. The service left a bit to be desired (only because our waiter was a douche – an attentive one, but a douche nonetheless), but the atmosphere was awesome and the food was phenomenal. Plus, they were having a special for those who were running the marathon, so the cost wasn’t bad at all. The valet service sucked, but overall it was a great meal.
Then Saturday morning, N was supposed to be at the starting line around 5:30 a.m., even though the race didn’t start until 7. We only had one car, so I had to drop him off. Fortunately, I was able to go back to the hotel and sleep for a while after dropping him off, and I still made it back in time to see him cross the finish line. And without getting lost in downtown Austin (too much). Woot!
After he cleaned up, we headed back downtown and wandered around for a bit, finally settling on Maria Maria as our lunch destination. And again, I highly recommend it. It’s Mexican food, but with a bit of a twist on the standard fare. The lunch special is very reasonably priced, and our waiter, Ted, was probably the best server I’ve had in my entire life. He earned a handsome tip, and as anyone who has ever dined out with me knows, I am an exceedingly stingy tipper. The manager was also very friendly and personally stopped by our table to ask how we were doing. We don’t make it into Austin too often, but once my parents make the final move to Georgetown I’m sure we’ll go more frequently and I can promise that I’ll want to hit Maria Maria every single time. In fact, I want to go there now. YUM.
Overall, it was a great weekend, rounded out by my Valentine’s gift. It turns out that my sweet husband was actually listening a few weeks ago when I was rambling about some shoes I’d seen on sale at Macy’s. He e-mailed my friend BB (who was shopping with me that day) to find out what they looked like, then went and bought them for me. I say that any gift involving shoes is an absolute WIN.
