Post Ike-saster

It's sad how power has not been restored to so many people who lost it during Hurricane Ike. But I agree whole-heartedly with a caller who phoned the radio with comments, when it comes down to it, having no power is an inconvenience, not a travesty. Many of the middle class who have been affected by this are scrounging around to find ways to preserve their food, to find water, to fill up gas, even finding a laundromat, due to not having power and/or running water. And difficulty finding a stocked grocery store and gas station makes it even more inconvenient. So yes, we are going through some tough times, but I really can't complain because we were blessed. We definitely were not nearly as damaged as New Orleans, that's for sure. We're only going through a fraction of what Katrina and Rita victims went through and still recovering from.

We got power back last Thursday, thank goodness! We were out since the storm hit early Saturday morning. It was quite interesting (but definitely not fun) dealing with the heat/humidity during the day and being in pitch black at night. We slept early, woke up early, and gave 95% of our attention to little booger P, who thoroughly enjoyed himself the entire time probably wondering what has suddenly sparked such attention showering. We drove around to see what commotion was sparked, which wasn't much, except a lot of debris and 100% power outtages in a 10 mi radius around us. Needless to say, we, along with the majority of the Houston population, were bored and just wanted to get out. To start off the week, we camped out at places that had electricity until ours came back on. We were lucky enough to even have such conveniences. We cleaned out our fridge a couple of days after power went out, throwing out moldy stuff, and managing to save the thawed frozen foods by putting it into my parent's fridge, which was running on generator.

Well, time to get back to blogging again now that we got power back! Hooah!

Austin, TX

I'm a tad behind with my pics but at least I'm posting them up!

As all Houstonians (and Texans) know, Austin is a great place to chillax and/or live, especially for hipster, liberal, outdoorsy types. It's a short three hour roadtrip to get there from where we live in Houston. We stayed with our gracious friend Diana, who lives about 10 minutes from downtown Austin. We didn’t do much except shop (at this new outdoor mall and some local shops) and ate out a lot. I wish I took pics and noted everywhere I went but I guess the mother in me had other priorities. I'm getting better though! The trip was much needed and quite nice and relaxing. It was our gazillionith time there, but the first roadtrip for the baby! He slept the whole ride to and from..boy, were we lucky..we were afraid he would get antsy along the way. He had a blast exploring there! And he was a great guest a Diana's. He wasn't intimidated by a new area (of course, because mommy and daddy were there), he napped and slept at night very well, and didn't make a mess at all. It made the trip all the better.

My fave eatery of the weekend was East Side Cafe. A great brunch place! The food was definitely yums and the decor is oh-so homey and cute. Their recipes are almost completely organic because they grow their own veggies! They have their own little shop behind the house-turned-restaurant and their garden is just behind that. You simply can't miss the well-groomed greenery of the garden.














^^A bucket of corks.














^^Loved the heart-shape.


^^More hearts.





We also went to this pool party on the roof of one of the many new condo high rises in downtown Austin. They sure are metropolizing the area! Diana, who's a structural engineer and has contracts in that area, told me hipsters are not too happy about the modernization of such a laidback town, but then again, some of those "hipsters" are people who don't realize the real estate potential of such things, especially in increasingly popular Austin. I still think it will never really lose it's relaxing nature. Anyway, it was packed roof, that's for sure. They were giving out free food and drinks. They sure did know how to put their tenants' money to good use. The view from that roof for the night's downtown firework show was supposedly the best in Austin. Too bad we had to leave beforehand and didn't get to catch a view of any fireworks! BUT my prego belly was calling for some good ol' Trudy's. Must obey the p-belly! And besides, driving around town to find a spot to see the fireworks was a job in itself, so we decided that Independence Day wasn't worth the hassle - Sorry, America! =P





^^Some of the doods we met, except the guy on the far right, who introduced us.





^^Fotchoy all shaved with his lion's haircut..he cleans up pretty well, eh?