Happy.

It was a year ago today that Ike hit Galveston.

It's so hard to believe a year has passed, despite the fact that our lives have completely changed. We've been living in Austin again for nearly a year now.

We have so much to be thankful for, and so many people to whom we are thankful. I started to write a list on here, but I was completely overwhelmed.  

I hope to give back to you all in the same way that you have given to us.  Well, not exactly the same way...I'd hate for a hurricane to hit your house.

Really, thank you.

9-11-08

from: Lindsay
date: Thu, Sep 11, 2008 at 4:48 PM
subject: Evacuation!!!

Hi friends & family,

Just a quick note to let you know that Matt, myself, and our kitty have safely evacuated Galveston. We woke up early this morning and packed up and left around 7 AM. We missed most of the evac. traffic, thankfully. Some of our friends have been stuck on the freeway for hours...ugh.

We're staying in Waco with our very good friends Robert and Kelly until late Saturday or early Sunday, weather permitting!

:)

Lindsay

_____________

Meanwhile, this was happening:

9-10-08 (yes, 2008).

A year ago today I...

...and my husband learned that voluntary evacuations were in effect in Galveston.
...and my husband learned that medical students were being encouraged to evacuate.
...and my husband made arrangements with our dearest friends Robert and Kelly to stay with them for "a few days."
...taught my last voice lesson.
...rescheduled other voice lessons, thinking I'd be back in town in a week or so.
...bought plywood.
...boarded up the house.
...bought some "road trip" food at Kroger, ran into Valerie and her husband at the grocery store, and laughed about "evacuating."
...drove home from Kroger along the seawall and watched a beautiful Gulf sunset.
...got home and made cannellini bean dip, which for some reason I thought would be good "road trip" food (I suspect it was a last-ditch attempt at domesticity in our comfy Galveston house?).
...put some jewelry and photo albums up in a waterproof cupboard, just in case (thinking I was overreacting).
...played a Chopin prelude on my piano late at night, just because I knew I would miss my piano while we were "away."
...went to bed and slept restlessly, and mused that the evacuation could keep me away from my sweet and soooo comfy bed for several days.
...set my alarm for 6:00 am so we could beat the traffic.

9-9-09

On 8-8-08, I went to see a show in Houston and had no idea that I only had a month left in Galveston.

On 7-7-07, I had just gotten cast as the lead in MSYT's touring Shakespeare production. I was teaching theatre to kids in Galveston.

On 6-6-06, I was in Guatemala.

On 5-5-05, I was planning our wedding.

On 4-4-04, I don't know where I was. I lived in Austin...

On 3-3-03, I was in India.

On 2-2-02, I was still in college and living with Matt.

On 1-1-01, I was at a New Year's party. I remember this party because I worked in an amusement park band and we played until 11:30. My friend Sara and I held a "countdown" in the car on our drive back from work. Then we went to a party.

I'm my own best friend.

Tonight I went to a movie all by myself, for the very first time in my entire life.

When you go to a movie by yourself, you must pay VERY close attention to spatial relationships. You must sit neither too close nor too far from any other moviegoer(s) and maintain an equal distance from all other persons. If someone lacking such sensitivity to spatial relationships (i.e. a close sitter) chooses to sit near you, you must very casually shift seats - while NOT attracting attention the fact that you are shifting. A close sitter is likely to shift along with you and possibly be a creep. You can roll up the top of your popcorn bag, take a quick bathroom break, return during the previews, and choose a seat a few seats further away from Creepy.

You must never:

1) Make eye contact with other solo moviegoers, especially creepies.

1b) Make eye contact with anybody, really. Couples are worse. It exposes you as a creep. Which you are - because you went to The Time Traveler's Wife by yourself.

2) Laugh out loud. (Not just because it's The Time Traveler's Wife - and yes, there were funny parts).

2b) Slap your knee (Matt says I slap my knee when I laugh in movies).

3) Cry. Sniffle. Remove a wadded-up popcorn napkin from your purse and use it to wipe your tears. I loved the book, all right?

A new leaf.

Enough...

We've gotten in a terrible habit of eating out at almost every meal, and it has to stop. It's unhealthy and uneconomical.

We've always been inclined to dine out, but this particularly horrible seven-to-eight-month streak really began back in September after we moved to Austin due to the hurricane in Galveston. I lost a lot of my kitchen tools in Ike's nastiness, and then after I started working full-time again in Austin, it was awfully hard to want to navigate a kitchen.

It doesn't help that I've been awful about grocery shopping. Often I will have good intentions and want to cook in the evenings, but it's the planned grocery-store stop on the way home that always gets us. I'll call Matt on my way home from work, and both of us are just too famished to wait through a shopping trip and cooking time.


Lunch is even worse. Because my job can be so crazy, I end up grabbing either a fatty, fried Thai tofu curry with white starchy rice from the place across the street - or a huge, overfilled Chipotle burrito bowl. Or, even worse, a burrito. Worse than these: fried cheesy sandwiches on white bread from the bakery down the block. With a side of white pasta salad...and all of these at $8-10 a pop. Good Lord!

So. I'm stopping!

I spent some time at BookPeople on Saturday and picked up a cookbook that my amazing vegetarian-mama friend Erin recommended on her blog. I leafed through and found some great recipes that looked so surprisingly simple.

Then it was time to face by biggest opponent: the grocery store. I did it, though. I purchased the ingredients for all of our meals this week (except tomorrow night, which is laundry night, when we eat while our clothes are tumbling, simply for efficiency's sake).

I also cooked up a big batch of whole-grain farfalle pasta and refrigerated it last night, for my lunches this week. I bought a bunch of different ingredients to use in pasta salads and whipped up a lunch which my belly is digesting as we speak: pasta salad with pesto, chickpeas, spinach, red pepper flakes, and kalamatas. Very good.

So that's my struggle for now. Stay tuned.

What not to do the morning you plan to hike to Hamilton Pool.

Matt's friend Devin is visiting.  Today we decided to take our first trip to Hamilton Pool.  This is what greeted us at the bottom of the 1/4-mile downhill hike, which itself was gorgeous:

How is it that I have lived in Austin for a total of nearly four of the past six years, and yet have never been to this amazing swimming hole that is just 25 minutes from downtown?  

Incredible.  Anyway, I overheard this conversation from the family next to me:

Mom: ...Oh, no...

Dad: What?

M: ...I CLEANSED this morning.

D: Oh, no.

Son: What's cleansing?

D: Why did you do that?

M: I had to CLEANSE!!!

S: What's cleansing???

M: It's when you drink a bunch of fiber and...

S: Did you just poop your pants?

M&D: SSSSHHHHH!!!!

Swimming...yay!