Happy Birthday to my wonderful wife and caring friend; loving companion, warm-spirited, smart, hard working and very often selfless: I couldn’t imagine my life with anyone else and had a wonderful time celebrating her birthday this weekend. As the Indian girls I work with say: Many Happy Returns of the Day!!
On Friday night, I made a taco fiesta dinner at our place for us and Sara, Adam, and Kristen. Shredded fajita chicken and tasty steak filled our tacos, accompanied by homemade guacamole and strawberry daiquiris to fill our tummies.
I did some shopping at Bed, Bath, and Beyond this year but also at Ballyea Jewelry Designs (for fine Irish inspired rings, pendants, etc). It’s run by Bernadette Moore from OSP and is nestled in on the 6th floor in Jewelers Row in the loop. I got Aimee a Trinity Knot pendant (see above) and a toaster oven (see below). Yet another appliance added to our kitchen means a need for increased counter space so I got and installed a knife rack as well!
On Saturday night we made plans to celebrate Aimee’s birthday again and to re-visit a new great Italian Restaurant: Salatino’s on Racine near Taylor. Katie very graciously drove in to be with Aimee and me for dinner (which meant a lot… thank you!). We had an unexpected bottle of wine delivered to our table courtesy of the Castillo’s quite needless generosity. Of course, we walked back over to their house afterwards for more wine! We are blessed with such great friends here who we are happy to call family.
Sunday was a very full day too. I did my weekly accessibility mass with Laura and then rushed home to have brunch with MB and BB at Meli on Grand.
Quick review: great space and much larger than the one in Greektown so easier to get in. The service was extremely inattentive but, other than consistently empty coffee cups, accurate. My Count Chocula French Toast was delicious but two more mainstay breakfast items at our table (benedicts) contained dreadfully poached eggs which is tough to get past.
Then before mass, I stood awkwardly and humbly before a group who had gathered in the church hall to sing through my mass setting. I am so grateful to have that chance to hear the music in person. It has already spurred some new thinking which I’ll continue to work through.
After mass we celebrated the birthdays of Aimee and Elena, and the great camaraderie of our 5 o’clock music group with a potluck in the rectory.
So it’s Halloween here in Austin and it is about what you’d expect on Halloween: a random mix of people collectively realizing that they need to step up their normal efforts to stand out. It’s been fun to see all the different costumes though! Looking forward to this weekend already: an evening with Jenny, Keara and Michael’s wedding reception, running (and maybe even finishing) the Hot Chocolate 15k, and I’m sure more to come!
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