what i miss most:

there are a few things. in no particular order...

cafe rio- oh. so. bad. my memory can almost taste it.. but not quite. and it kills me most days. never thought i'd miss it this bad!

fried pickles from lucille's- they were the first, therefore they are the best fried pickles eva. and i'm living in the "south" (sorta)! so this says a lot about lucille's!

lunch dates with the sisters & mum- i just miss our girl time together. so much.

mountains- MOUNTAINS!!! i miss thee so terribly much. they don't believe in mountains here. just hills.. and they're pretty gorgeous, too.. but i miss the smell of higher elevation and the majestic, jagged horizon. {sigh...}

speaking of mountains.. ZIONS- my favorite place on earth. if you haven't visited.. you're missing out on a whole different kind of WOW factor. giant cliffs of red rock. they're just... amazing.

friends- sure, we have a few friends here... but we also have incredible friends back on the western side of the states.

sunday dinner- every sunday we'd gather with the casto family and eat a wonderful meal. the best meal of the week, usually. jake's mum is a wonderful cook.. and his family is fabulous company.

family- this is numero uno on the missing list. why is transportation so costly?? i wish we could visit with our most favorite humans in the world more often. i'm realizing more now than ever just how important family is. i'm so grateful that we have such amazing families.. both in-laws and out-laws alike.. to miss. very blessed indeed.

there are more things, but not a whole lot more. i do love austin and all the many wonders it has to offer. it's greeeen... and full of amazing fooood... you've heard me list them before. i'm sure i'll have a laundry list of things i miss about this place, too, once we leave it one day.

cheers to you!

enjoy your FRIDAY THE 13TH! {we'll be watching nightmare on elm street to celebrate}

from our going away fiesta back in october. taken with disposables!:

...hello? is this thing on?

{cricket}

{cricket}

...{cricket}

i know. it's a common sound around these parts.

remember when i was like, "hey, i have this really awesome blog, you should ch-ch-check it out."
then you were like, "hells yes, you're super interesting, i love following your blog entries about your insanely interesting life."
then i was like, ".........."

ya, that was about how it went down. sorry folks. i'll give you a few details on the happenings. let's just say that austin is still amazing. we sorta love it. there are these hidden communities right off the highways that have trees all around them, and cute ranch houses with huge yards...
there's incredible food and i feel like i've successfully gained ten pounds since moving here. texas bbq is truly spectacular.
the people are kind... genuine. they mean it when they ask you how your day is going.
bug seems happier here. there are 7 cats that live downstairs... bug isn't allowed to go outside to hang out with their flea-ridden selves, but she watches happily from our windows. she's also made friends with the bluejays and squirrels that frequent the branches just outside our door.
i'm working at nordstrom... some days i love it, somedays i wish i could remember what it was like to look forward to a friday.
we're both still looking forward to hearing back from the airforce soon. it's been a long process... budget debates aren't helping matters either. {get it together, gov't.}
we.miss.our.family. we're far away. texas is far away. airfare isn't cheap. asking for time off is close to impossible between the both of us. one day we'll get home to at least say hi for a day to those we love most. one day!
it is beautiful here, though. so many rivers and lakes... and downtown is so clean and interesting. we're wondering what the future holds. if we're meant to stay here for a while or move along. just waiting it out and enjoying life along the way, i guess.

i promise i'll try harder at blogging. although most of you follow my life on fb, so at least i don't suck at all realms of social networking.

for now, i'll leave you with a few photos... hoping i can make up for the "lost time".

I was afraid...

"I was afraid... I'd eat your brains.... cuz I'm evil..."




:)

Oh hey, look...

...I found one!

At the longhorns game. :)

why.. hello.

lauren who?! yes... i  know. i'd say i've just been too incredibly busy to post, but really that shouldn't be my excuse. i did have a month off from working... but i must say, i was looking for a job that entire month.. and have been sight seeing, of course.. exploring our new city.. so.. i was busy. i landed one, though.. a job.. and so our bills can now be paid. yippee!! jake too. we're responsible adults contributing to society again! well we're here in austin...

and it's A W E S O M E.

someone please tell me why i wasn't born here?! okay.. maybe that's because i was too busy being borned out on an island in american samoa. ya ya whatever... there's a saying here that goes something like this:

'i wasn't born in texas (austin), but i got here as soon as i could."

that sort of applies to me, i guess. except that i'm 25... er.. 26 now.. and i hummed and hawed through those first few years of my twenties. i could've moved out here sooner. but then i wouldn't have met the man of my dah-reams.. and austin wouldn't be as cool without the guy.

the trip out here was sooo loooong. sooooooooooooo looooooooooooooooooooong. and we were in separate vehicles. me being stuck with the meowing bug-cat. she chilled out after about the first 8 hours. uh huh. we arrived at our new condo and to our horror, the place was SO DIRTY. :( it's a pretty nice complex.. older, with a ton of trees and squirrels everywhere... but the owner had not cleaned the place! we were pretty disgusted. we had driven 11 hours that day (on 3.. yes THREE.. hours of sleep the night before) and then we had to head to the grocery store that night and pick up cleaning supplies. there was no way i was sticking my hiney anywhere near the toilets as they were. um ya... it was bad. but we conquered! and it's our home now.. we sort of love it. :)

every time we venture off to look at something new, we're in awe of just how cool this place is. the people are so incredibly nice, it's contagious.. and i've already picked up on all the 'ya'll talk' and bbq. let me tell you, they are serious about their bbq here.

we miss our family.. and friends, of course.. and i think it makes it harder knowing how much they'd all absolutely LOVE it here (and in my head i've been scheming of how i could get them all to move out here..). it's sure been difficult missing the big events that've been going on back home, too. this has been a really amazing experience for us, though... already. we depend on each other a lot more. it makes us appreciate each other a lot more, too.

so all in all, life is pretty darn good... jake has had a phone interview with the usaf and will be flown up to hill afb in a couple weeks for some tests. the possibility of the military is great and we're pretty excited.  we knew that our time here in austin would probably be short lived, but now that we've been here, we know that we'll want to come back one day. so who knows what the futures holds.

hopefully a few more adventures... :)

**so i haven't taken too many pictures with my good camera... don't ask me why. i really have been busy, okay?? but i stayed up after writing this post last night and put all my flip video clips together of our trip out here and whatnot. well, it isn't loading. guess it's too big. so i'll work on that. but sorry i don't have any pictures for you! maybe i'll get some on here soon..

jealousy & all that...

so the husband is in austin at this moment... finding us a place to live.

i've requested pictures at every juncture of his travels throughout the city... so i can live vicariously through them as i sit, confined to this desk of clerical drone-ism. dramatic? na...

it's a cloudy day in the wonderful, exciting, and weird city of austin. with humidity in upwards of about 90%. doesn't seem to bother jake much. he says that it isn't miserable as long as there's a slight breeze. so there's that. we won't have to worry about getting the ever present bloody noses of desert living. hooray for that!

i'm actually quite excited for our little texas adventure. it's an expensive little adventure (as in, we could probably move to europe on this same budget.. plane ticket included), but it's the right choice for us. who knows where we'll be in a year from now. probably in the military. so WHY NOT take off and enjoy life austin stylee for a little whiley?

anyways, all of that out there, i am feeling broad pangs of jealousy for the spouse's mini vaca without the wife. i know he misses me soooooooo muuuuuuuch.. he's got to, right? but i truly wish i were there with him. taking tours of possible future condo-homes.. having the first look at our new city.. having lunch at the south austin trailer park and eatery.. sounds delightful. soon, though. oh so soon. we'll be unpacking and nestling into our new place about three weeks from now.

so i guess i can survive until then. oh and i should probably insert somewhere in here that i do actually MISS my husband.. we've never quite been this far away from eachother before. when i got home from work yesterday, i found a note that he had left me. it went something like this:

going to miss you, sweetie.
i'll be thinking of you...
do some independent stuff and listen to all the music that i don't like.
love you lots,
jake

sweet, hey? ha ha. i never knew i had music he didn't like.. maybe i should run out and buy a lady gaga cd for just such an occasion.

cheers! xo lauren

ps. i started a tumblr account.. just to add one more thing to my pile of time consuming social medias. i sorta like that i can just have a random 'i feel like saying this today and posting this picture.. or i like this picture that i found while searching tumblr.. save for future use' outlet. link to it on the right side of this bloggity.

{ Divas and Dreams }

Have you ever visited this website? She has the most beautiful, girly, vintage, lovely and inspirational posts. I love them! She's currently doing a giveaway. The winner will receive an incredible gift box that'll include these little lovelies:

Yes, I'm entering to win it and you should too! 

Hope everyone's having a great day. It's Monday.. but I'm happy. Oxymoron type-o-day.

xo Lauren