The Big Three-O!!!

Thank you to everybody who sent me birthday wishes, cards and presents!! It was so good to hear from everybody. I had a fun day. Spent the morning relaxing after Joe made me breakfast in bed.

Then I went shopping at Banana Republic for a dress to wear to Jason & Rhian's wedding. I swear I tried on 40 dresses and the last dress I put on was perfect.

Then Joe took me to dinner at a french/italian restaurant. it was really good and I can't wait to go back soon!!

-my cards and delphiniums

-on the phone with Linda after dinner

St Patrick's Day, Dallas style

We decided to watch the St. Patrick's Day parade over the weekend so we could check out a different area of the city since we've been complaining about how much Dallas sucks. The parade was a bit weak, but the various floats were entertaining. This was my favorite float because it has nothing to do with St. Patrick's Day:


We then walked a couple blocks down to the block party where the streets are blocked off and had a good time drinking beer on the street. On the way there, we saw this guy and his green Swiss Mountain Dog.



At the block party, the only place selling Guinness was a bar, and they wouldn't let you leave the premises with beers purchased there.... only cheap beer was being sold on the streets of Greenville Ave.... it seemed wrong that Joe was drink Dos XX at a St. Patrick's Day bash. At least he wasn't one of the many drinking margarita's!!

The people, at least, were all dressed up and it was fun to be around people our age. Here's a shot of the crowd listening to the band.

and us!:

visiting with Sai in Austin!

Joe and I made a relatively impromptu decision to drive the 3 hours down to Austin over the weekend to get out of Dallas and visit Sai. Austin, with it's walkability and rolling hills, was a welcome change to the concrete wasteland of Dallas. On Saturday afternoon we drove around UT's campus and then out to a restaurant/bar called Oasis. It was a really awesome location outside of Austin overlooking Lake Travis, but it gave me the feeling that I was on a cruise ship.


Sai then made us an Indian dinner and then we went out for the night with a guy (who's studying at UT) we met in Switzerland while he was working in Melody's lab for a study-abroad-like summer intership.

-Brandon, Sai & Joe

On our drive back to Dallas, we passed this awesome truck. If you can't read what the back of the truck says, click on the picture for a larger view.


Who knew there are racing pigs?!

Some apartment updates!

We've been slowly making improvements to the apartment decor over the last few weeks as the necessity arises.

First, we bought curtains for our bedroom:
Then we finally got a coupon to Bed Bath & Beyond in the Sunday paper and so we could finally buy a cover for our sofa. It's hard to spend money on temporary things, but the apartment looks much homier with the new couch cover and pillows:

And lastly, we found a coat rack to hang by the front door. I also finally got around to hanging up the Welcome sign my mom bought for me to hang in our new apartment:
That's all for now!