Taking The Challenge

Through a... friend of a friend of a friend?... I'm taking up a challenge to get out and do something new. There's plenty of things to do around here, so I want to do Level 2: Road Trip and find five new places to explore. Now to decide what to do.



Both the kids are old enough to have a blast at a zoo, and there are several around, but I think Cameron Park is probably the coolest. We've also been meaning to go to the Wildflower Center and the Bullock museum for years, now, but have never "found the time." Just across the street from the Bullock is the Blanton, and while we have been there, it was before kids and before the new building (which Jonathan hates, from both an architectural and an urban design standpoint, but that's just too bad) so it really is exploring a new place. We could do a festival but I think all the festivals but the ice cream festival (which we were planning on, anyway, and is therefore disqualified) are outside the time frame. Hmm... Well, I guess that means introducing our children to a favorite that we haven't been able to attend in quite a while: the Zilker Summer Musical. Not new for us, but certainly new for the kids, so we'll count it. This year, it's Disney's Beauty & the Beast.

Tune in, throughout the summer, to see how our adventures went. If I come up with more, I'll put them up, too. I invite you all to join the challenge and tell us all about your own adventures.

My Ever Changing Life

So where do I begin? At the beginning? That seems as good a place to start as any. I was raised to want it all--marriage, a bunch of kids, a cute house in the suburbs with good schools--everything a girl could want in life. And then I grew up. I fell in love with history and a wonderful man. I got a degree and got married. My husband started a BBA and we had a beautiful baby.

This is where things started to change. My husband didn't like business and I fantasized of living in the heart of some European capital. And then we discovered Architecture. But that would take too long, and he'd have to start school all over again. The councilor suggested a new field of study--Urban Studies. We've been hooked ever since. It was exactly what he'd been looking for but didn't know how to find. As we delved deeper and deeper, we found in ourselves a passion for living in the middle of a city--the vibrance, the convenience, the magic. But where do I plant my tomatoes in the spring? Where do we let our children or future dog run around without having to watch them all the time? How do I get the groceries home if we took the stroller (and not a car) to the store? Where will we *put* the 4-6 kids we still want to have?

And so my life changes. This is to chronicle the magic along the way.