Love Actually...Austin

So I spent the weekend up in Austin this weekend visiting a friend and we did alot, so many funny things happened ( as always) and I learned and realized a few things ( as always)

Instead of making this several different blogs I decided to keep them in one but just subtitle them. Read a part, or all I don't care, but who knows you might find it insightful and I guarantee a bit amusing.....

Austin: Why I went.....
One of my best friends has lived back and forth between Austin and San Antonio for years. I havent seen her since i moved back to Houston and well this weekend was very important to her. In addition to being the weekend before her 23rd birthday, it was the weekend of a charity run of someone very important to her :

You see my dear friend Morgan was somewhat interested/seeing this guy named Justin over the summer. Like we have all experienced, they had a great connection and somehow along the lines something just messed it up and it didnt work, however, she never stopped thinking about him.

Well a couple of months after they had last spoken, Justin was in a horrible accident. You see after leaving with some friends one night, he thought he would take a shortcut home and ended up falling into a creek 20 feet and knocking himself unconscious. His friends found him the next day laying there. He has been in and out of a coma ever since.

Morgan was in Hawaii the day it happened. One of his coworkers went to her work several times to tell her but of course she was gone for awhile. She found out shortly after she returned and it all made sense as to why the whole time she was in Hawaii she couldnt stop thinking about him.

Well Justin was a big time runner in Austin. He participated in many marathons and worked at the Runtex store in Austin. This weekend they had a big run for him and his family to help raise money for his treatment. To read more about his story and his progress go here

Morgan really wanted to participate and I told her if she really wanted to go i would come up and run the event with her...

What we did....
I got up to Austin Saturday afternoon and we immediately went and ate at my favorite place... Wahoo's Fish Taco. Now if you ever go to Austin I say GO! I was so surprised Morgan had never been. Its a total surfer/skater place and I LOVE IT. The vibe is totally what i'm into, laid back, fun, humorous even and of course in addition to the food being awesome... there are always good looking boys there... you know the ones my mom hates that i like. punky, likes to wear vans/chucks, has his own style, might have a mohawk,/shaggy/colored hair, might have a piercing/tattoo, and lives for adreneline. Yeah... those
So we had lunch at wahoos and had a really funny encounter which i'll put in the "funny stuff" section of this blog. Afterwards we walked all over Austin. We walked to Runtex and ran into one of Justin's coworkers who told Morgan about his condition and how he would take her to visit him if she wanted. The whole conversation was hard for her I could tell, but i think seeing him will make her feel better about the ordeal.
Afterwards we walked really far down south on congress and shopped in different stores and went in this costume store that was the most claustraphobic thing i had ever been in. Morgan laughed at me cus I said, " this may be my design background and my education speaking, but this place is SOO not up to code or handicap accessible!!!"
We lingered around there for a bit and a few other stores and walked back into town and went to the Belmont and enjoyed some martinis and appetizers. My first experience with St Germaine Liquor and it was nice. I forgot the name of the martini i had, but that was in it and it was delish!!
After that we went home to be lazy and to determine if we wanted to meet up with some other friends for a night out. We did the whole girl thing and gave ourselves pedicures and watched a movie. We watched Love Actually which is by far one of the cutest movies ever... I'll digress about that later..

We opted to stay in and just girl talked and passed out. We woke up early and made our way to runtex for the run. It was really awesome to see that many people out there for Justin. His family seemed really sweet. We did the run and this little boy that was probably 5 ran ahead of me the whole time. he would not let me pass. it was INSANE. i was like omg we have a future Olympian right here! Shoot!
After the run we headed to Austin Java and had some breakfast on the patio and then just walked all throughout downtown to the capitol and back. it was such a beautiful day we decided to enjoy it. after that we just chilled at the apartment before i headed home.

Funny stuff...
OH MY. it started as soon as i got there. we went to wahoo's and as we are ordering the two boys behind the counter already try to kind of flirt with us and the only thing Morgan and I know how to do is laugh. So we sit down and order and one of them comes over with my tacos and is like " oh man where's your chips and guacamole?" I was like " i dunno you havent brought them" so then he is like " well do you still want them?" " umm yes please"
So he stands there and just stares with this glazed look on his face. Omg this kid was either so drunk or high i dunno but morgan and i just laughed so hard.

So he comes back later and is like " so how did you like it?" and morgan says " this is a fine establishment i plan to be back"
and somehow i thought i heard her ask if there was a shower in the back and i said that and the guy is like " yeah dude we got a shower?"
so i joked and said that morgan was moving in. so he stands there and says a few weird things and morgan just laughes at him and then she says " do you ever blink?" and he just stands there and looks at us and is like " uhh yeah" and he keeps staring at us. omg we laughed so hard. so he walks off and when we left he waved and yelled something. it was funny.

So then as we are walking through Austin we pass where she works and there is a group of like 20 guys out front posing for this picture. Coincedently morgan was wearing the same thing they were. A white shirt and jeans. So we walk by and you hear these boys "damn" " hey girl hey" and god knows what else and so one waves at us and i waved back just being stupid. Well morgan yells " hey nice outfit" and they started laughing and all 20 boys run over to us and are like " hey we are pledges for this fraternity and we are doing a scavenger hunt and all we need now is a picture of 2 girls making out"
so we laughed and we were like no, can we fake kiss or something and morgan is like " guys i work right here no way!!!" so one guy tells her " you kiss her cheek and i'll kiss you..." i was like "oh snap that sounds like a proposition" Unfortunately for those young college freshmen boys we kept walking... hahaha

several other funny things happened, but those were the most funny

Love Actually...

This movie was so super cute. Guys too would love it. its really really funny. It touches on relationships around us whether its friendships, family members, co-workers, romance etc. All of the characters are interconnected somehow and you watch them go through trails and celebrations that happen in relationships.

What was interesting is how realistic the characters acted. they did things you do when you are hurt or angry or anxious and it didnt look contrived like a lot of hollywood movies do.

I could relate to just about each relationship in the movie ( except two or three but if i say it ruins parts of the movie)

The movie put a lot of perspective to me how some relationships in my life have played out, started, ended etc and it kinda makes you smile when you think back on them, no matter how they ended up...

one of my particular favorites was the little boy's crush...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bi6BrI8Jx3w&feature=related

I'm a firm believer in everyone is brought into our lives for a reason, even if that is to teach or something or for us to hurt. Because with hurt there is always healing and a lesson learned and usually a new strength formed from it...

Go watch this movie except dont watch it with little kids or your parents cus well there are some funny and awkward nudie scenes that could be uncomfortable. haha

What I learned/realized this weekend...
I learned too much probably.... haha

1) i learned its great to have friends to share good and hard times with. My weekend with Morgan was so relaxed and carefree and yet we had some great talks about life, love, family, future etc. We've both had some losses over the years. Morgan lost her mom a year ago and what a wonderful person she was. I was blessed with knowing her throughout Morgan and I's friendship and saw their special relationship. I learned how special it is to see someone else;s relationship over the years as well as be there for them within your own relationship

2) love...romantic or not is a powerful thing. even infactuation is a powerful thing. we cant control it. the people we love we hold such high places in our hearts and have such an effect over the choices and decisions we make. Justin obviously had lots of people who loved and cared about him. its amazing to me to see support like he had. its like when you wonder to youself " when i die who will care? who will come to my funeral? how will i be remembered?"

Justin hopefully will get to see one day as he recovers just who does love him, how much and how he will be remembered. Now its sad that sometimes it takes tragedy to see or experience that. its quite remarkable.

3) there are so many people we meet in our lives that effect us or touch us in some way. i wish i could have the courage to tell several people in my life just what an impact they made. shoot i wish i had the courage to tell someone recently just how special and beautiful they made me feel and just how badly i needed that at the moment.

or others how they made me realize other strengths and weeaknesses of mine or not to take life too seriously or for granted...

4) i could probably go on about other little things i learned but lastly as morgan and i were driving down the highway with the windows down, sun in our face and screaming the words to "Dont stop.. believin.... hold on to that feelin...." That life is great!