Just got back to Austin yesterday and am sooo happy to be home! I flew out to LA on the 23rd to see Hannah and visit with her family for a couple days. We got there just in time to see the end of the carol singing at her grandparents house that happens every year. Immediately began gorging on cookies and had some yummy stouts to wash em down with! Hannah had made gingerbreads in our likeness and they were tasty. She also had made me a stocking with a silhouette of tree posture on it, then hung it on the fireplace with the others. Three days of eating and lounging followed! The weather was nice and even a bit rainy. Christmas Eve we hung out with lots of family and I ended up playing some jazz standards on drums with her family. Many of them are into music and her grandfather has a dixieland style jazz band that has been together since 1975! There is a link to it on my site here.
On the 26th we hopped in the car, drove to El Paso, and spent the evening in our friend Jennie and Andrews Airstream. Got up nice and early, had coffee and breakfast, and then headed to Hueco Tanks park to rock climb for about 7 or so hours. The plan was to climb every other day as to not tear up the skin so much. Lots of Austin friends started to roll in and it was a great first day of climbing. Had dinner and crashed in my fancy new tent for a super cold evening of restless sleep… mmmm. The next day we lounged quite a bit, ran errands, watched 3 movies in the Airstream and I cooked dinner, grilled chicken and rosemary n parm cheese potatoes! Ended up having a bonfire and all our Austin buddies showed up and we passed around the Woodford Reserve bourbon! The second day climbing was a bit warmer and a bit more successful climbing-wise. After another cold night of sleep in the desert we decided to head into El Paso, get a hotel room, and get the first shower in days! Sooo good. Our friend Ellen came in that evening and we all met for dinner at a brewpub in El Paso and had a blast. Third day of climbing was fun and relaxed. It was packed with people climbing and gearing up for New Years. Had dinner with about 30 other climbers at El Rancho Escondido, which we found out the hard way is the home of the $54 margarita pitcher. Seriously… a $54 pitcher of house margarita. It ended up being an enormous fiasco and Jennie and Ellen ganged up on the manager to give him whatfor. As drunken berating only got us %20 off the bill, I cornered him myself, used my Jedi mind tricks (ME: waves hands mysteriously, “There ARE no margarita pitchers on our bill.”)and we ended up drinking for free! It was a great start actually to the evening as we were laughing about it all the way back to the park.
Every year there is a huge bonfire at the Rock Ranch and all the climbers camping out there show up. To make a long story short here, margaritas, Beast cans, and champagne make for a pretty entertaining evening out in the desert! Too many hilarious moments to even get into. We crashed in Ellens trailer and were honored to be her first overnight guests! The next morning we again packed up and headed to Austin. It was a nice easy drive in which Hannah at one point came up with her porn name… Tickle Moorwood, based on her first pets name and a derivative of our apartment name. Much laughter! I feel like I am leaving a lot out, but all in all it was a blast and we are happy to be home and have a week together!
Looking forward to 2009 and what it shall bring. My personal goal is to of course practice and study more yoga, but also to manifest becoming a better business. Time to take my yoga teaching as a business to a different level I think. We shall see! Hope all of you are fantastic and happy new year! Pictures to follow!
Cookies
TheTent
Sending Moonshine Roof
New Years Eve Bonfire
Saying Goodbye on New Years Day
