Correction

Okay...this is NOT just a Texas thing (I particularly like the Michigan one).

"Did you know this about Texas?" Item two

Texas tattoos. They. Are. Everywhere. This isn't just for sports-crazed 300 pound men either. I personally have met one woman with a Texas tattoo who has no attachment to any Texas team. She just loves this state that much. I can't think of any other place in the US where this urge to get your state tattooed on you occurs. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

"Did you know this about Texas?" Item one

Everyone knows about Texas toast, but did you know what else this great state offers? H-E-B (our mega-grocery store chain) sells Texas-shaped chips. It took about year for this to not seem weird. Now I don't think about it until someone visits and I realize "Yeah, I guess it is strange to have a chip purposely shaped like your state." I don't imagine Missouri chips would sell all that well.

Austin City Limits 2009

You know who always puts on a good show? The Yeah Yeah Yeahs. Karen O is basically a broadway star. She believes strongly in a great performance full of costume changes and dramatic movement. I saw Yeah Yeah Yeahs at Lollapalooza a few years back, but I must say that I think she outdid herself at ACL this year. When I go to see a concert I really value the performance aspect. It doesn't matter how artistically interesting the music is, if I'm at a show I want to see a show. This holds especially true when it's in a festival setting. At any given time you're weighing the option of seeing three different bands. If somebody is just going to stand up there and play something exactly as it sounds on your stereo, you're going to get tempted to leave. ACL was especially rough because the weather was crazy. Day one = sunny and 80 degrees, Day two = rain, rain, rain pretty much all but two hours of the day, and Day three = mud pit. I'd like to say that I surrendered to the festival spirit, stripped to my underwear, and rolled in the mud but I ultimately revealed myself as the true prude that I am and only dabbled in some barefoot strolling (because the mud kept sucking off my flip flops). I did hang in there like a trooper though and stayed ten hours in the rain on Saturday and six hours in the mud on Sunday. I saw Dr. Dog, The Knux, Prescott Curlywolf, Phoenix, Daniel Johnston, Them Crooked Vultures, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Mos Def, Ghostland Observatory, Toadies, Dirty Projectors, Dead Weather, and heard some of Girl Talk and Pearl Jam from my volunteer shift. Yes, I volunteered. I don't know why more people don't do this. I signed up to volunteer for Fun Fun Fun Fest next month. I mean, how could I turn down a chance to see Danzig?

Sundays mean...

-making coffee to give Zach the motivation to get out of bed before 11.

-taking Anna to the dog park

-making sun tea on the porch

-checking PostSecret

-cooking biscuits and gravy with Zach

-vacuum

-dishes

-laundry? (not this week)

-watching movies from the library (Man on Wire? Eagle vs Shark?)

-going to Newflower Market (spinach, bell peppers, cheese, walnuts, apples, meat, maybe some asparagus)

-choosing between chicken pasta or a pizza kit for dinner while watching cartoons (simpsons, family guy, etc)

-reading (The Emperor's Children by Claire Messud)

-asleep by 11:30

Flight of the Conchords in Austin, TX for SXSW 2006

Austin Celebrity Sighting!

Zach and I saw Matthew McConaughey today while taking our dog through the dog park down at Auditorium Shores. I always knew he was an Austin figure, having been a UT student when he was cast in his first movie: Dazed and Confused. Usually he's sighted at UT football games, flashing the longhorn sign and looking generally laid back.

Today, Zach and I were winding around Town Lake with our Anna dog, working our way to the 1st Street bridge when Anna wandered toward this little girl about toddler age walking barefoot next to two men. As the little girl bounded toward Anna, our exceptionally ferocious dog sidled away and as one of the men looked up I thought *gasp* thats Wooderson and his daughter! I said "Hi" and he said "Hi" and Zach, still not realizing this was Matthew McConaughey said, "She's terrified of children" to which McConaughey chuckled and kept walking. Once I alerted Zach to who he was just talking to, Zach was like "Oh yeahhh.." I was like, "You just made Matthew McConuaghey laugh." And he replied, "I'm a funny guy."