just the two of us

Happy December! Sadly our weekend of celebration and treats is coming to an end, but I'll re-live it via blog for you.

I celebrated my 22nd birthday on Wednesday which was the beginning of a 4 day treats fest. Birthday celebrations were simple but happy and included my favorite things. This is the 3rd birthday I've celebrated with Preston and in his words "I really got the best of your young adult years!" Weirdo. 

Thursday was Thanksgiving and our very first spent away from our own families or adopted ones. Every year at BYU Preston celebrated Thanksgiving with the Baker family and I was adopted by roommates and the Bakers my senior year. Shoutout to everyone who's ever hosted me, by the way. You guys are the best. I was nervous for this year because we made everything ourselves :-O and I thought I would be super sad not spending the holiday with a big family or my own. Ok, some things we cooked were not from scratch, whatever. After a mandatory run, we set to work cooking our turkey. Then we lounged around and waited to make the rest of dinner, and guess what? Turkey turned out great! It was my biggest worry and a few days before I asked Preston if I could buy a prepared one from Whole Foods. But alas, with the help of my parents, the Internet and Preston's butcher skills, we managed to prepare and cook a delicious 10 lb. turkey that we are still eating. We both felt super accomplished and full after the biggest meal we've ever prepared together. I'm still really proud of us. Directly above is a picture of our dinner and the very top picture is my very cute husband anxiously waiting for me to stop taking pictures of our food.

Friday morning we left for Austin because why not? Preston rented an apartment through Airbnb, and we spent the weekend eating and shopping in a new city. We had an array of foods because Austin is home to tons of famous, not-so-famous, but all delicious restaurants. We also visited the capitol and ran around UT campus. My favorite thing I ate was a donut from Gourdough's. It's a little trailer that serves the most incredible, hot, specialty donuts I've ever had. We tried the Funky Monkey- cream cheese icing, caramelized bananas and brown sugar. Ugggghhh. There were so many I wanted to try and if you're ever in Austin, you gotta look this place up. It's fantastic and the flavors are so unique. 

Above is a picture from Uncommon Objects, our new favorite antique store. This place was so beautifully decorated and it didn't feel as grimy as some other antique stores we've visited here in Dallas. And oh man did they have the most amazing things. We wanted to buy everything, but left with some antique keys that remind me of the scene in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone when he has to use the broomstick to get the right key at the end. 

So we mostly ate in Austin and I'm not mad at all about it. Above is me at Rudy's, a really fabulous barbecue place with outstanding service. The brisket was insane, as was their creamed corn and ribs. I am one of those people that will wait 2 hours for what is supposedly the best BBQ in whatever city. Preston is not, so Rudy's was a great compromise and we both left happy. Other notable places were Sarah's Mediterranean Grill & Market and Homeslice Pizza. Sarah's had the best shwarma and falafel wraps and if there was one in Dallas, we would be regulars. Homeslice is a pizza place that serves it by the slice. We thought maybe it might be a Slab competitor. It's not, but it was good pizza and I'd go again if I were in Austin.

We did do some things besides eat in Austin, but I won't lie about it being our main activity. This afternoon we went the Zilker Botanical Gardens and had lunch at Zilker Park. Hopefully we'll be back in September for ACL :)

That's how I spent the last 5 days and I'm trying very hard not to be sad that tomorrow is Monday and holiday hours have been implemented at J.Crew. 24 days til Christmas, 19 til I fly home and 24 more days of Justin Bieber's Christmas album.