good bye politics...hello heart walk!

My last day on the hill was Wednesday. I got sentimental (surprise-I know)....I enjoyed my time at the Capitol so much! The representative and my direct boss and friend Karen were so wonderful and laughed right beside me during my learning curves! You know, from little things like "what is a constituent?"...to "Karen-they need one more for Quarum...what is that?!?" I was so touched by both of them my last day. I had hydrangeas and a sweet card from Karen and a dish that has The State of Texas written on it-to remind me of my days on the hill and a card from the representative. They took me to lunch and both gave me sincere hugs goodbye. I am so excited to start my new job with American Heart Association-and I hope I find just as dear and sincere individuals there! I am sure I will!

I start my job Monday. I am very excited and ideas have been flowing thru me so I can't wait to get started...but thats the worst part-starting new jobs! We all know its awkward for the first few weeks. (Is it ok for me to eat lunch now?....is it ok to go to the bathroom now?...just little stuff you never think twice about after being somewhere a couple months!)-remembering names, learning phone systems...those little things! But hey-you have to start somewhere! Can't wait for you guys to take this new journey with me! :) stay tuned....

Amy

Paula Abdul is BACK!

I don't normally watch American Idol-I was out after Kelly Clarkson...but anyway..so I am listening to Kid Craddik in the morning on my way to work the other day and they had Paula on the show the morning after she performed live on the American Idol stage. How did I miss the boat that she was having a come back? During the interview they play bits of her songs-her blasts from the past if you will...and as they were playing them, I remembered how much I LOVED Paula in the 90's! Straight up now tell me...Your a cold hearted snake (I can remember dancing to this song on the third floor and pulling my shirt to be off my shoulders-and Lauri catching me and telling me not to do that)...The Way that you Love me....Hey baby-I'm forever your girl..I mean, I want to buy the CD all over again now!! Don't you?!? So check out her live performanc on youtube (click on the link below)-I know there is a way to get the actual video on here-but Amy is technically challenged. As for me, I am off to download her "He's a cold hearted snake" onto my ipod!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a--n__yHF0U

Travis' parents came to Austin!!!

Last weekend Trav's parents came into town. We had so much fun! This is a picture of us Saturday night. We went to this awesome restaurant called South Congress Cafe. It had a great Austin feel and the drive was great people watching! We drive down South Congress Avenue to find ourselves in a old car show...tons of hippies sitting out in lawn chairs showcasing their old car while others cruised their car up and down the street. Too funny. It took us forever to get to the place, but we didn't mind. It was the first bunch of hippies I had really seen!



Ok, so before we entered the car show, we drove over this bridge on South Congress where the "bats" fly out from under the bridge every evening at sunset-supposidly!...so we start to drive over the bridge to find a huge crowd on the bridge waiting for the bats. We look at the sky-perfect timing to see if this was true-it was sunset! The bridge was so crowded that we got to stay on it awhile and wait with the crowd. And sure enough, a long line of bats start to fly out from the bridge into the sky! It was cool. They have this huge statue right after the bridge I caught a snap of!



We had brunch at The Magnolia Cafe Saturday morning. They have three locations in Austin but we went to the original! All the locations are packed all the time. Its a known place in Austin famous for being a hole in the wall open 24 hours a day. If you want an Austin feel-this type of place would def give you just that. Very casual-anyone from a cute married couple dressed nice to hippies to guys in their biking gear, you see it all there! The food is not the healthiest or anything-so you can't make it a regular-but my eggs benedict was awesome!

All and all the weekend was a blast-we laughed, caught up-and ate a lot! :)Good times! We can't wait for more people to visit!!

It must be LOVE

I was fortunate enough to have Monday off to make for a nice long Easter weekend. Well, as you all know Travis and I are new to Austin and I am terrible at directions. So, Travis calls me around 2pm and wants to know if he can swing by and get my car because he has to drive way north for this work errand and he has to use the tollway and his car is so mangled he can't roll the window down on the drivers side. So, lovingly I say of course see you in a bit. In the meantime, I get the chicken marinated for dinner that night and change into work out clothes. My plan was to take Allie Mae on a walk to then mosey along to my 6:30 work out class. (Travis comes, switches cars, drives north, does his errand, comes back, swithes cars and heads back to work around 4:45pm)

Then...ring ring...ring ring...Travis was calling.
me: "Hey babe, whats up?"
Travis: "Amy, I left the folder (the errand) in your car"
me: silent
Travis: "Shit, I'm going to be in this traffic all day"
me: "What are you going to do?" (you know me, not offering right away to bring it to him, I don't want to get stuck in traffic the one day I don't have to)
Travis: "I need you to meet me half way-start heading south and i'll start heading north and we will meet half way"
me: "Ok, I'll call you when I get on the road"

So...I fly down the highway b/c there is no traffic going south yet, I call Travis 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10 times-no answer. Hmm...Where is he? Where am I supposed to exit? He knows I get stressed out about this stuff (as I am approaching down town-so much for meeting half way) He finally calls and sure enough we had passed each other on the highway.

me: "Why haven't you been answering my calls?!?"
Travis: "My ringer is off and I was listening to music"
me: !!!!!!??????#$#%$%@#"Whatever, I am exiting enfield, see you there"

I exited enfield and tried to think of the easiest way to park to then be able to turn around to get back on the highway (down town austin is so confusing-especially for someone like me). So I go straight thru the enfield light thinking I can then just turn around...wrong, its a one way. So Travis finally shows up and gets his folder he left in the car.

me: "Well-now I'm on this one way and I'm not sure how to get back and its 5:40 and I'm probably going to be late for my class now"
Travis: "Sweetie, I don't know what to tell you-I've got to get back to work"

Ok now peeps-tit for tat. I run this down for him (thats the tit) Wheres my tat? And I know that I am a big girl and you are all reading this going-Amy, he's right, you have to just figure it out!-and I know that, and I did...I just wasn't very happy about the situation. And yes, I made it to my class on time, I know that was a real nail bitter...So, the point of this blog is that no one is perfect and you have to deal with frustrating things on both ends all the time-and you get thru it. We had a lovely dinner together last night. IT MUST BE LOVE!

WRECK

So I am puttin' along the highway today (we all know I drive like a little granny and stay in the right lane at all times). I know its the lane that adds 10 more minutes to your drive, but its just the way I am-lets call it a quirk of mine. Anyway, so I naturally slow down with the traffic and allow other drivers to merge onto the highway. As I do that I realize the car behind me is not slowing down and sure enough I get rear ended. It shakes me up and thankfully I am already in the right lane so I can easily get to the access road. I put my blinkers on and get out of the car. This lady is a mess. She has a huge pile of papers and asks me to help her find something that has state farm written on it. Mind you I can't hear her very well because she had some faith hill song blarring. (In my mind I'm like, listen Lady, maybe you should turn your music down now that you had a wreck right?!) So I finally find something in the huge pile that says state farm insurance. I write all of the info down and leave. What a mess-and a rocky start to the Easter weekend. But to look at the glass full I'll end with this-it can only go up from here! Happy Easter Weekend!

Hey guys-ok, so this is so funny! I write my first blog about all that I have learned "on the hill"-and my friend Laura (who read the blog) pointed out to me that I spelled constituent wrong!!! I spelled it with a g. For some reason that cracked me up. Hey, no one is perfect!!!! :)

Moving on! Travis and I had such an awesome Sunday Funday~ We took our sweet Allie Mae to this amazing dog park! Its all these dogs running around getting in the lake, running up and down the trails-awesome! So we let Allie out of the car and we start walking down one of the trails and she literally does not move from our side. She doesn't run to another dog and say hello, run in the lake and swim-nothing. We were laughing so hard saying-go on Allie-go play! And the teasing Dad in me (it comes out)grabs Travis and we hide behind a tree when I saw an opportunity to get away from her. She turns around and this panic look takes her over and she is desperatley looking for us. I think its so hilarious that she is this timid (this 70 pound dog)!!! Travis told me I was mean and called her name and she ran so fast to him. (I was just glad to see her putting a little pep in her step). After some sweet coaching she was acting like every other dog there-or as much as she could. After about an hour at the park we went to Taverna (there is one in Dallas as well) and sat outside with Allie and had $1 mimosas and had a late lunch. Everyone in Austin takes their dogs everywhere regardless of size. As we were sitting on this cute patio we thought to ourselves we never would have tried to bring Allie to this restaurant in Dallas, but near us was a huge white poodle and two mid-size dogs tied to a post. It was the perfect day minus the lesbian couple making out and hugging all over each other the whole time. And don't get me wrong, I am all for hug and kiss whatever you want-anyone who is making out and hanging all over each other like that is never appetizing to anyone right?!? I kept having to start my sentences over because I was so distracted!!!! But like I said, other than that-it was the pefect Sunday Funday~

Hello all-



My first blog-feels like trying to write your first journal entry, only you know people will read this one! My first blog will be about my job as the legislative aide to a Representative at the Capitol. Incase someone doesn't know, my husband and I moved to Austin about a month ago! We moved because he took a job in Commercial Real Estate for a great company. So thru a friend, I got this job at the capitol. Its been very interesting...considering...its ironic really. I am well educated, have great work experience-grew up with a family not affraid to voice their opinions-but I have never voted-EVER! Its embarressing, yes, but I guarantee you I am not the only family member who hasn't ever voted. So (keeping that in mind)-my day to day consists of greeting lobbiest and hearing their passionate opinions or listening to constiguents personlize why a bill is so important to them etc... Of course my first day I had never heard of an individual in a district called a constiguent-so that was embarressing! I also didn't know what H.B stood for (Emily that means House Bill-duh right?!) It is so interesting not coming from a political family-how little I did not retain from my political science class in college. I will say however, that my communication skills continue to carry me thru this temporary full time job! (That was another one, I am only helping out during session) Session right Emily?! :)



I am starting to learn that most people fake it til' they make it. Althought I tend to under sell and over deliver, which I know is a confidence thing-and I am definetly having to work on that as I interview for jobs. I am very grateful to be working for the Capitol during session, and as I say everyday as I get to work-Just Another Day on the Hill! Politics Politics!

more to come later....