I just got back home last night from my wonderful trip to Austin to attend The Blathering. It was everything I had hoped for and more. My sweet cousin Erin let me stay at her house, and I was able to drive down. Huge savings there for me.

We met up Friday morning for Brunch at the Kerbey Lane Cafe where I ate my first ever migas. And lo, they were delicious.

And the company was pretty awesome too.

(Kristie and Emily)

Later that night was the informal BBQ dinner at the Blathering house. It was loud and crowded and fantastic. We talked about very inappropriate things like waxing, birth pooping, and some things I can’t even bring myself to type on here for fear of the google search results it would produce.

At this party I realized what a small world we live in. I met someone my husband used to work with about 14 years ago. And I also found out that someone else and I have a random mutual friend who isn’t even in our circle of blog friends. So crazy.

Saturday I got to eat from my first ever food truck. Two of them actually! The Gypsy Picnic was going on and I couldn’t really pass up the chance to check it out. Especially considering how much I enjoyed watching The Great Food Truck Race on Food Network.

I’ve heard a lot about the awesome-ness that is bacon donuts. I got to experience that firsthand.

It might look gross, but it was delicious. It was called The Flying Pig and it was this hot maple glazed donut with a bunch of crispy bacon on top. So good.

Later that day I did some shopping at IKEA and the Fossil outlet store. My cousin lives about a mile away from both. We have neither of these things in Tulsa or even Oklahoma. So you can imagine how excited I was to discover this.

Saturday night was our fancy dinner at Z’Tejas where we had a private dining room and a lovely menu to choose from.

I told myself that I wasn’t going to be my usual picky eater self this weekend. I was going to try new things! Be adventurous! Which, if you know me, is a big deal. So when the waiter came around with appetizer trays, I helped myself to the catfish beignets with jalapeno tartar sauce. And I ate the Caesar salad that they brought out before the meal. I had never had a Caesar salad before in my life. Can you believe that? This may have been their own version of one, but still. There are only two kinds of salad dressing I ever eat: ranch or honey lime. I TRIED A DIFFERENT KIND OF SALAD DRESSING THIS WEEKEND. Do I know how to party or what?

I may not have been as adventurous with my entree choice, but who am I to pass up a steak that looks like this?

Also, I’m pretty sure over half the room ordered the steak as well. Beef, it’s what’s for dinner. Well, except for the vegetarian ladies at my table. And then, for dessert I ate a pie that contained walnuts. Pretty sure my sister just died reading that. Because I refer to walnuts as the Devil’s teeth. I hate them. But it was either order the chocolate pie with pecans and walnuts, or eat flan. Flan isn’t very adventurous. This pie was more like a slice of super rich fudge. I don’t think anyone was able to finish their piece. It was very tasty though, despite the Devil’s teeth.

Sunday breakfast was bagels back at the house and more conversation with fun ladies. And a baby. I got to hold the famous Pippa who belongs to Regan. She looks just like her momma and was quite dreamy.

Then a few of us went to do a little exploring. We stopped at a fabulous antique shop called Uncommon Objects. There were some very cool and very unusual items for sale.

Then it was one last meal at Home Slice pizza and some almost tearful goodbyes.

These are all my own photos. I look forward to stealing other people’s photos since I didn’t take my camera with me, just my phone. Here’s a few more.

It was so awesome to see Emily, Kristie, and Jessica again. Those ladies are incredible. I was also able to really meet Jennie and Jonna and Maryann and Regan and Tara and A’dell. Not to mention all of the cool ladies that I didn’t know beforehand, but now am very fond of. My Twitter followings just grew as did my google reader.

There’s a whole other part of my trip where I could talk about my cousin and her toddler and how great it was to visit them and hear that little guy say my name for the first time. But I think I’ll save that for another post. It’s deserving of one.

I can’t wait to find out where the next Blathering is, and I really hope I’m able to go. Either way, I’ve made me some new friends and I look forward to visiting Ft. Worth to cash in a karaoke raincheck.

(Apologies to anyone I’m forgetting to mention. I’ve still got to connect the dots on who is who and writes for which blog etc. I didn’t meet anyone this weekend that I didn’t like so score!)

I decided in August of last year that I would not be going to BlogHer this year. Even though I’ve been the last four years in a row. It used to be something really special that I looked forward to all year, but it’s just not the same when your closest blogging friends can’t make it and you’re left wandering the streets of New York City by yourself. And even though I’d love to go to San Diego, the expense of it all is just not something I can swing this year. Besides, that money is much better spent improving my house.

However, when I heard that The Blathering was going to be in Austin this year, I knew I had to go. My fabulous cousin Erin moved there last year with her baby and husband and I’ve been wanting to visit the city for a really long time. So now not only do I get to see loved ones, I get to check out the infamous Austin and also hang out with some awesome bloggers that I adore. The best part is that a) I can drive there myself, thus saving lots of money on airfare and transportation fees and b) I don’t have to pay for a hotel because Erin has a guest room. And it’s right before my birthday so it’s like a present to myself. Wheeee!

Is anyone else going?

Vegas was a lot of fun. And exhausting! We Tulsa girls are just not used to having to walk so much. Thankfully we had sensible shoes. There was still a lot of whining. Mostly mine.

The Highlights: Shopping! Food! Shows!

Anyone who knows me knows I’m a sucker for Fossil products. I went nuts at the Fossil outlet store. The sad thing is, I could have totally gone back and done more damage. I’m actually kicking myself for not buying up more of these to give away as gifts. (if there’s a Fossil outlet store near you please email me and let’s discuss you doing some personal shopping for me ok?)

It’s the perfect size to be both a wallet and a coin purse. It has slots inside to hold your cards and ID.

Then there’s this beauty:

When you find cute Fossil Fifty Four for 80% off, you don’t hesitate. You just buy it. And then you either keep it or flip it on ebay. I’m keeping mine though. It’s just so gorgeous.

The food in Vegas is expensive, but good. Here’s a few photos of things we ate while there.

And then there were the shows. We saw three total. Of course you can’t take any photos, so here’s the best I can offer you.

We did not get called down to be contestants on The Price Is Right Live show. It was still fun though. And it was hosted by these two guys:

I didn’t win any big money or meet any celebrities, but I had a great time with my sister. You can see my entire set of trip photos here.

I keep sitting down to blog and abandoning drafts. Life is just kind of boring lately. Vegas is in two days though, so I’m sure I’ll have something of interest to say when I get back.

In the meantime, please enjoy these Christmas card photo rejects from over the weekend. Where the wind decided that it would destroy our plans to get decent photos.

This shot of my sister turned out quite lovely though. I think she’s planning on sending out Holiday photo cards that read “with my by myself….”

Just kidding sis. You know I love you.

I did manage to squeak out a precious few photos that were decent enough to put on a card. I can’t wait to see them in person.

And if I don’t blog again before Thursday, Happy Thanksgiving everyone! We’ll be having our turkey dinner tomorrow night and flying out around noon on Thursday. Oh and wish us luck on Saturday as we’re going to The Price Is Right Live show at the Bally’s hotel. We want them to tell us to come on down!

The last time I went to Vegas, I did this.

(top of the Stratosphere)

This time I’m going with my sister, so there will be none of that. There will be glorious outlet malls that will hopefully give us Black Friday deals of a lifetime. Sounds like a pretty good way to spend Thanksgiving.

We’re staying here.