Live. Laugh. Love.

This morning was slow and easy. I got dressed and went to Brandy's to wait for my mom to pick me up for breakfast. After coffee I stepped out of Brandy's to find Jess and her friend Lisa scratching their heads at the prospect of getting my couch down the stairs. I joined the head scratching and bribed Doug over to help. After a little bit of picking up and maneuvering, we actually decided to abandon the mission. Just too damn heavy to get down three flights safely. The couch is at this moment still sitting right where I left it yesterday, but I'm hoping to get it moved into Brandy's casa tomorrow.

So, my mom was caught in Kite Festival traffic and it took her quite a while to get to my house, but when she finally did we piled into the car and headed to Whip-in for breakfast naan. The original idea was to have coffee with breakfast, but since it took her forever and a day to get there, we scrapped that idea and ordered beers. Sitting in the sun was fantastic, spring has finally sprung in Austin. Gorgeous day, awesome food and amazing friends :)

After breakfast we came back to my apartment and left on foot for the kite festival. Doug, Brandy, my mom and I, with three dogs in tow. We walked the crowded path down to Zilker and then claimed our space right up next to the big blue bear kite. We had a few friends and neighbors stop by, Mike first, then Allen and co, then Nick. The sun felt amazing, the hundreds of kites in the sky were majestic, and the parasol photo-shoot at dusk took the cake.

Mike at Kite Fest 2011

After all that business I had dinner plans with my friend Karen. Her sister Christi was also able to make it, which was a great surprise, I'm so glad I got so see them both before leaving :) We talked about and looked at pictures from Karen's recent honeymoon to Panama. Definitely adding that one to list of places to go before I die, she saw some truly amazing things with her new husband! We talked about plans for Crater Lake, it looks like we missed the boat to actually stay in the park on the weekend of Bobby's birthday this year, so we discussed staying outside the park or possibly waiting till next year. I guess its still up in the air, but sucks that it looks like the ideal we were all imagining probably wont happen. Regardless of the bad news, it was really great to see them both, Christi gave me a beautiful silver bracelet with the inscription 'Live. Laugh. Love.' - she says it's the way she wants me to always live my life. It brought as all to tears, and I will wear and treasure it always.

Christi, Karen, and me at Hula Hut