Sun, surf, and sand...

Last night, we ventured down to see the Trail of Lights at Zilker Park. It's basically a walking trail with Christmas displays. Richie tried to take me there on the night that he proposed (back in 2000), but when we got there it was already closed. Since things always seem so hectic around the holidays, we've never made it back. So last night we decided to go check it out, at least to say that we've been. It turned out to be nice but the crowds were pretty horrendous and neither of us have much patience with that sort of thing. We think we'll give it one more shot next year - maybe earlier in the season and later in the evening - to see if the crowds are more tolerable then.

the Trail of Lights against the Austin skyline (this picture looks awesome full-sized!)


me and Richie from underneath the Zilker Tree

Good morning! Checking in again after another busy holiday weekend.

This weekend we were celebrating Richie's birthday! Thursday night, the two of us went out for dinner at Outback and then to go race go-carts at RPM Indoor Racing. I think Richie was glad that there were other drivers for him to race besides Natalie, who was content being lapped.

Friday night, we headed towards Houston to visit with the Davids. Richie's birthday was on Saturday, and the David men celebrated by hitting the driving range. We spent the rest of the afternoon with the kids.

Saturday night, Lisa and Geoff threw their annual holiday shindig at their house. Food, drink, and much merriment! Lisa surprised Richie with a birthday cake and all the guests sang him happy birthday.



Sunday morning, we met some folks to go see Return of the King, the final installment of The Lord of the Rings trilogy. It was a looooong movie, but definitely worth the time!

We got back to Austin last night and we're taking it easy this week, finishing up wrapping Christmas presents and all of that. Looking forward to seeing everyone for Christmas!

Thursday already? Where did the week go?

Anyway, it's that time of year so there's lots of fun stuff going on. Going back to last week...

Thursday we went over to friends Marc and Jessica's house for a cookie decorating party. I sure do like those Christmas cookies, sugar... Yum!

Friday was Natalie's birthday and to celebrate, we all headed over to Buca di Beppo for dinner and then to go play pool.

Saturday, Natalie, Chris, Brad and Amanda went to Bull Creek to do a little bouldering and let Chris's and Amanda's dogs play. Richie and Viet went to help Lisa and her mom pull the jetskis out of the water for the winter.

Saturday evening, we abandoned our guests for a while to stop by Natalie's company Christmas party, and then joined them later on for some good ole boot-scooting.

Sunday we headed out to Reimer's Ranch again for another round of climbing and then grabbed some Tex-Mex on the way home.

Photos of all this craziness will be up soon....

This week we've been busy running last-minute Christmas errands, wrapping gifts, and fun stuff like that. Tonight Richie and I are going out to celebrate Richie's birthday, which is actually on Saturday - but we won't have time to celebrate it this weekend because of Lisa's Christmas party! Whew!

Jingle bells, jingle bells...

Happy Tuesday! Would you believe that I actually posted yesterday but something wacko happened and it got lost? Seriously. So here's a re-write.

Richie and I had a wonderful weekend this past weekend. Friday night we treated ourselves to Johnny Carino's (tired of T-Day leftovers!!) and then went to go pick out a Christmas tree.

Saturday morning, Richie left bright and early (okay, well maybe just early!) to go to San Antonio for a volleyball tournament. His team emerged triumphant again, with Richie getting kudos for his outstanding play throughout the day.

Natalie, on the other hand, slept in, took a long walk to enjoy the gorgeous weather, then spent the rest of the day running errands and making the house festive for Christmas. The results of her handiwork (so far):



Sunday morning, we met Brad and Amanda out at Reimer's Ranch to do a little top-rope climbing (or in Brad's case, lead climbing). We enjoyed a beautiful day, nice scenery, and - oh yeah - some semi-decent climbing!

Here's Nat on the wall, with Brad belaying and Richie looking on:



The rest of the pictures should be on our pictures page shortly.

Afterwards, we all celebrated by grilling up dinner at our house and getting in some well-deserved hot tub time.

This week, we are trying to put the finishing touches on our Christmas shopping... we think we're 90% done! Woohoo!

Have a wonderful day!

Hello, hello! It's a beautiful day again here in Austin - top's down on the del Sol and all. And you're telling me it's already December?!?

Since it's been a while since I've been here last, I have lots to recap...

Weekend before last we were feeling very popular as we had 4 parties to attend in the span of about 24 hours. Friday night, we went to a shindig thrown by Richie's work. Saturday afternoon we went to an NSX meet (basically, NSX owners from Austin and the surrounding area get together to look at each other's cars, go for a drive, and socialize).

Saturday evening we attended the wedding of Natalie's Uncle David (Dad's side) to Stacy... it was a beautiful wedding and the reception was a lot of fun. How could it not be when all those Bergers hit the dance floor? ;) After the wedding, we dropped by a housewarming party for some friends of ours who recently moved into our neighborhood.

Whew! I think we reached our social interaction quota for one weekend. (Or at least Natalie did!) Pictures from the NSX meet and the wedding are, as always, on our pictures page.

Thanksgiving weekend, we hosted Richie's family (Mom, Dad, Rob, Jason and Austin) along with his godmother Octy and her husband Abe for Thanksgiving dinner. Yep, Natalie cooked her first holiday dinner as head cook (with a lot of chopping support from Mom D), and it turned out pretty well! The guys fit in a round of golf Friday morning at our neighborhood golf course, and of course we all watched the big A&M vs. t.u. game Friday afternoon, where the Aggies actually put up more of a fight than we were expecting but were still outscored.

Saturday morning, we (along with Brad and Amanda) headed down to Port Lavaca to celebrate with Natalie's side of the family. We had another big dinner, played several board games, and watched lots of old home video footage of various family members. We also got to see Uncle Michael take out Grandad's front door in order to replace it... hope it was all done before nightfall!

Pictures from both Thanksgiving gatherings are also on our pictures page. You may also notice some other changes to the site, as I revamp it a bit before our holiday newsletter is posted. (Be on the lookout for that!)

I think that's about it for now. Hope you all had wonderful Thanksgivings and are enjoying your preparations for Christmas!