The Best and the Worst of Austin

The best:
1. I found a venue for my wedding ceremony and another one for the reception. My Mom, sister, and Dad were engaged in many talks about logistics, costs, transporation, and overall planning. And we couldn't get it together about the venue. It was such a tough choice and I am a very undecisive bride so it took me almost one week to come up with where in Austin would be the very best option. If I was getting married in the spring or fall, Austin's a great place to get married. There are many venues catering to an outdoor wedding. But in August, there's no telling especially when at least half of the crowd will be wearing yards and yards of silk. So where's it going to be? The Driskill for the ceremony and the Renaissance Hotel's Glass Oaks ballroom for the reception. Yay. They are both beautiful venues. I am so excited.
2. Designed invitations. They ended up being way over budget so we are going to tweak them to make them beautiful and under budget. But I love them so far.
3. Picked colors. Again, I had no idea what I liked. So it took some nudging. But the colors of the peacock are really appealing to me... bronzes, purples, bright blues, and vibrant greens. So are going to use some of those.
4. Figured out what do to with my house. Chase and I have a house in Austin that we are willing to rent if you know anyone who's interested. It's located in south Austin just off S. Congress. It's a newly constructed three bedroom, two bath, and fenced in backyard.
5. Spent time with Lola. Wow, we just fell right back into it. And she is the best dog in the whole world. I wept when I had to leave her this morning in Austin. But I know she's safe and happy with my parents.
6. Saw friends. It was so good to visit with everyone! Chase and I are really going to work on making more friends in Beijing and hopefully with the weather getting warmer (not for another month at least though) we can do that. In fact, I just checked the ten day weather forecast and the highs are in the upper 40s. That is so exciting! Anyways, our friends in Austin mean so much to us. I was glad to see some of them and reconnect.
7. Ran outdoors. I haven't run outdoors in over six months because Beijing air is so bad. Actually I remember running one day in September and my lungs paid the price. They just hurt the rest of the day. So I got out in the greenbelt and on the Town Lake trail with Lola. She enjoyed it and got in the water and played on the trail. My trail time with Lola is our special time. And she makes running so much fun. I enjoyed breathing fresh good air, seeing the creek, and listening to the birds and other critters on the ground.

The worst:
1. And I mean this one is the worst. I didn't get to attend a single yoga class. I know. I know. How did that happen? I even had a yoga schedule all made out. But I was consumed, totally consumed with wedding planning, Lola, and just being around my parents that there was always something that prevented me from going. I wrote about this phenomenon that happens to me a couple of posts ago. I tend to be super focused on certain aspects of my life and leave out everything else. So I was not able to stop thinking about wedding planning. Primarily because i knew this would be my last chance to have any direct influence on wedding planning. The rest of my planning is going to be done over email and phone. So I needed to focus on wedding issues. It would have been nice to have some compromise in time, but I did what I had to do. Another reason was because I didn't have use of a car it made it difficult to coordinate everyone's schedules. I am so sorry I didn't see my yoga friends either. I do miss the Austin Kula so much. I will at least be back in Austin in July and be there for a long duration.
2. Got sick. Well, just as I left Austin, I felt my throat start to close up. I slept the entire way to Newark. And on the flight to China, slept a record 10 hours after that. So 14 in total. I must have just been so exhuasted from my week and a half in Austin. Luckily, I had all three seats to myself for both flights, so I was layed out. I hope that I have slept off this little bug and will be ready for work on Monday.

Alright, well, I better go unpack and think about how to organize my last few days of vacation. We don't get Spring Break or anything in China so it's a long haul from here on out to the end of the June. I might have to take a couple of personal days to make it through.