That being said, 2013 doesn't seem to be all-that prolific either. It's practically June and I've had 3 posts. THREE posts. What gives, Mel?
Well... I guess the big BIG news is that there has been a new leading man in my story lately. His name is Dan. We call him Dan Lawyer for fun. I met him on match.com. Oh, did I tell you I got on match.com? Hah, yeah. That happened. It was MLK day and I just finished watching Obama's 2nd inauguration. I sat myself on the couch and, influenced by Sarah's online dating stories, I decided to go the Nike route and "just do it."
I went on 5 first dates.
They were all tolerable and decently pleasant. Dan won out, though. So, to the victor go the spoils. He gets me and all my crazy. (Well, the crazy hasn't quite come out yet. It will though. Oh, it will.)
at Spiderhouse, which coincidentally was where we had our first date (this was not from our first date, don't worry Chi Thu, I looked a lot cuter than that on our first date).
It's only been a couple of months, but we've had a great time getting to know each other. So far, other than weekly movie nights, our days together are pretty random. Planting succulents, camping in the backyard, Renaissance Fair(e?), reading in Mayfield Park, long walks on the beach down South Congress, that kind of thing.
Back to the rest of life:
January was alright. We had Hannah's birthday party at my house and that ended with my group of friends in my bedroom eating taco bell. Eating about $40 worth of Taco Bell. Yeah. That's all I remember about that. Also, Lisa, Mike and I went to go see Keane. It was... just as spectacular (if not more so) than it would've been had they performed when they were supposed to back in 2006.
This is what $40 from Taco Bell looks like after you and your friends demolish it.
Keane @ the Moody Theater (ACL Live place)
February was good. I had my first date with Dan on the first. He actually wanted to go out for Valentine's day 2 weeks after meeting me. Chloe and Daniel were in town, so we went to see DIE HARD! Mom & Dad's 50th Anniversary celebration was great. I also got to see some good friends running the Austin Marathon! Maggie, Mike, and I went out and cheered with our posters--it was actually a lot of fun!
Cupcakes from Mom & Dad's 50th
Joel at Mile 24 (aka 92% done!)
Maggie about to give B-Go a high 5 at 92%!
March saw Mr. Matt get married to the gorgeous Alyssa. Somehow I don't have photos of us at their wedding... meh, I'm sure they'll turn up somewhere, no? :) I sang during their ceremony "Make You Feel My Love." I fudged up part of the song, mostly because I got distracted by the little kiddos walking down the aisle during the instrumental. Whoops! Anyway, it was quite a night! It POURED down rain all night, even when we were going to the bar for the after party. But not when Schutte and I walked to our secret after-after party. Hah, oh what a night.
Schutte & I pre-wedding
Schutte, LC & I post-wedding at... where were we? McKinney Ave? Something like that.
March also saw Spring Break. Ahh yes, my first Spring Break as a teacher... So March looked a lot like this:
Texas Independence Day a la JJ Penny and the gang!
Driftwood Vineyard with Miss Bliss!
TEGAN AND SARA and a badly soundteched Macklemore with JJ, Danielle, Dave Behr and Danielle's engineer friend at Waterloo
Dan and me at our first concert (Alabama Shakes) at the Austin Rodeo!
Pi day pies with Miss Bliss and...
JENNY! GIARDINA! (LIENHARD!)
First time camping with Dan (...in his backyard.)
Kayla came into town, which naturally summoned Kristi, Eshe, Johnny and myself downtown.
Yes, we danced for far too long at Latitude.
One of my favorite couples, the Cernys, invited me over for some Elk burgers in Manor!
Early Easter with the Chamberlains, my favorite Austin family :)
Renaissance Fair (Faire?) with Dan and these two, Tommy & Kate
Geez, March was a full month. Or rather, I took a lot of photos in March.
April. My favorite month. Why? It's birthday month! :) I got three days of birthday! I got early birthday with some teacher friends at Billy's on the 2nd, real birthday with my family (Dan's first time to meet the Chamberlains and Danielle came for dinner too!) and then a final birthday with the friends at Contigo.
Yeah... it was cold. Can you tell?
Everyone's getting cozy, even Eshe and Blake who... have probably met once.
Tommy & Kate came with some pretty flowers!
Caleigh (in my jacket... AGAIN, haha) and Hannah, future roomie :)
Yeah, we're all sick of pictures of us two by now
Other cool things in April? Ryan & Ellie got engaged and we all celebrated at Opal Divine's, Luke & Nia both had their 4th birthdays! :) April was a delightful month!
Waiting for the engaged folk to arrive
Nia blowing out her Dora & Diego cake!
Gosh he's a cute kid.
Luke with his friends at Pump it Up! May the fourth (birthday) be with you! :)
May is shaping up to be quite the month too, but it's not quite over yet... so... maybe I'll update more now that I feel slightly more caught up! :)
Oh-- VIETNAM IS HAPPENING IN LESS THAN A MONTH!
