Reason #12 I like Austin
They call it barn raising. This old rural tradition has been modified to take on a new modern DIY twist. It works like so: you work with about five other households, you each commit one work day to every household, some calendar-foo, then presto! Over a dozen able bodies show up to your home to help you knock out one of your mega-DIY projects: re-vamping your backyard, adding a new room, reflooring your kitchen, installing cabinets, even spring cleaning, or chopping down a tree, whatever you want. Brilliant! Communal. Cooperative. Awesome. We showed up to just check it out... with no project of our own in mind. We left being in demand and wondering how exactly we could put this to use. It's interesting adjusting my perspective to that of a home owner. Suddenly, my hobbies have become useful and marketable skills.
Reason #13 is that we're grocery shopping on farms now. I know this isn't specific to Austin, but it sure is much easier around here. A while ago, I realized the importance of focusing on more natural foods. Farmer's markets are a good first step. So is grass-fed beef (also, I love that in Texas we'll focus on whole-natural foods, but damned if we'll give up our beef). I'm scrutinizing ingredient labels now. Transforming one's health and what one eats is much more realistic when it isn't an overnight process. Start small. Change this. Change that. Before long, a lot has changed. I have much further to go still, but I've come a long way without even realizing it. Both the quality and taste of things I eat has improved dramatically.
Also, I find it interesting to note that D and I are in month 5 of living with each other day-in-day-out. That means we're on month 17 or so, total. We have yet to have even a small skirmish about anything. There's been ample opportunity. We share one car, we're tight on finances, D's burnt out at work, I'm stressed out with the job search, we've each had strife, we spend a ton of time together. By my calculations, we should have pulverized each other at least eight weeks ago. But nope, nada. Even when we've had disagreements. It's bizarre. We joked that maybe we should pick a fight with each other just to give it a go. But it would probably be--at most--maybe 20 seconds of fight followed by 2 hours of apologies and making up. Yet, somehow, we still manage to push each other in good directions. Mind boggling.
My stamina is coming back. Strength is about 95%. That happened faster than I anticipated. My running is improving, but still has a ways to go. I got a solid 6-miler in last weekend. Once I start feeling my trademarked 10-mile turbo boosts again, I'll know I'm back in business. I just got my NYC Marathon confirmation in the mail. D wants to do a Muddy Buddy with me. Now if that isn't mind-boggling, I don't know what is.
Also also, I tried Soyrizo for the first time. Not bad. Cooking with it is wildly different than with Chorizo. Not sure I'm entirely sold, but it definitely exceeded my expectations. Anyhow, picking it apart has given me some good ideas for making my own.
Reason #13 is that we're grocery shopping on farms now. I know this isn't specific to Austin, but it sure is much easier around here. A while ago, I realized the importance of focusing on more natural foods. Farmer's markets are a good first step. So is grass-fed beef (also, I love that in Texas we'll focus on whole-natural foods, but damned if we'll give up our beef). I'm scrutinizing ingredient labels now. Transforming one's health and what one eats is much more realistic when it isn't an overnight process. Start small. Change this. Change that. Before long, a lot has changed. I have much further to go still, but I've come a long way without even realizing it. Both the quality and taste of things I eat has improved dramatically.
Also, I find it interesting to note that D and I are in month 5 of living with each other day-in-day-out. That means we're on month 17 or so, total. We have yet to have even a small skirmish about anything. There's been ample opportunity. We share one car, we're tight on finances, D's burnt out at work, I'm stressed out with the job search, we've each had strife, we spend a ton of time together. By my calculations, we should have pulverized each other at least eight weeks ago. But nope, nada. Even when we've had disagreements. It's bizarre. We joked that maybe we should pick a fight with each other just to give it a go. But it would probably be--at most--maybe 20 seconds of fight followed by 2 hours of apologies and making up. Yet, somehow, we still manage to push each other in good directions. Mind boggling.
My stamina is coming back. Strength is about 95%. That happened faster than I anticipated. My running is improving, but still has a ways to go. I got a solid 6-miler in last weekend. Once I start feeling my trademarked 10-mile turbo boosts again, I'll know I'm back in business. I just got my NYC Marathon confirmation in the mail. D wants to do a Muddy Buddy with me. Now if that isn't mind-boggling, I don't know what is.
Also also, I tried Soyrizo for the first time. Not bad. Cooking with it is wildly different than with Chorizo. Not sure I'm entirely sold, but it definitely exceeded my expectations. Anyhow, picking it apart has given me some good ideas for making my own.