Hey all! I hope you had a wonderful Christmas/holiday season, even if it all looked different this year. I also hope you have a Happy and Healthy New Year too! These wishes carry a little extra gravity this year, don’t they?
I am still going through the summer recaps, although they are flying by because, well, we didn’t do a whole lot outside of work and school. In July, I transitioned to my second clinical site for the summer at a family practice. I learned more than I could have imagined in a few weeks & I was able to secure the site again for the spring semester- woohoo! I can’t wait to get started again.
I was on a PB & Toast with a side of grapefruit kick through a lot of the summer.
More Austin walks!
August 8th was our five year anniversary!! DJ surprised me these beautiful flowers <3 We had always said we were going to do something big for our five year, like a trip out of the country or something. Obviously, this idea was put on hold this year, but when we can travel again we look forward to planning something 🙂 I’m just so darn thankful for him and treasure each day and year with him.
When we wrapped up the semester/DJ’s internship in mid-August, we had about a week and a half off. We decided to try out a restaurant we had been eyeing up for a while. Aussie’s is a local favorite and is more modest-appearing compared to the flashy restaurants on nearby South Congress.
Along with not being a total tourist trap, this is the most chill spot you will find around. There is a volleyball court that usually always has a game going on next to their relaxing patio. Food is way more affordable here than most ATX restaurants, and it is super tasty.
Proof- their shrimp tacos (!!!)
The YETI Flagship store is also near us and we walk by it all the time. Ever since we moved here we said we’d have to go and choose some YETI mugs together! We didn’t own anything YETI at the time, but we knew people loved it. And it seemed like a must with the flagship store so closeby.
I settled on the white rambler mug for myself and DJ chose the stainless steel.
Later that afternoon, we decided to try out our apartment pool for the first time together since we moved last summer. It’s kinda sad it has taken us that long, lol!! (I briefly checked it out last summer myself, but I didn’t stay out there long since that day was particularly excruciatingly hot). Also, our apartment has a great system with a reservation portal to make sure there aren’t too many people at the pool at once.
We decided ordering take-out chips, queso and margaritas from El Arroyo would be fun to take out to the pool and have our own little “staycation”. El Arroyo is famous around here for their sign with its creative messages. You can see a whole bunch of their signs here if you need a good chuckle!
We used our YETIs for the first time for the margaritas! We were amazed at how long they kept our drinks cold, especially since it was also blazin’ hot that day.
Our pool day was one of our favorites of the summer. It was so relaxing. Without school hanging over our heads in that small moment in time, we just chatted while floating in the pool and enjoying the beautiful, sunny Austin day.
Most days of that break I used to get organized- I re-organized my entire laptop making sure everything had a file, deleted unneeded files, etc. It took a while, but it felt great moving into the next semester. I also read a little bit, made sure to get my oil changed and was deep into my training for the Boston marathon at this point! I also had to pack for the fall semester for my pediatrics rotation.
I’d love to know:
- Favorite memory from this past month?
Makes me miss Austin! How is the food at Arroyo?? Those shrimp tacos look pretty incredible.
I have not heard of Aussies before 🙂
Oh it is a hidden gem in our opinion! A really fun and chill spot with great food ☺️
Hi Pam! I don’t know that we can give a fair review since we only tried their queso and chips – but it was okay! I think we have heard from others that it isn’t necessarily the best food, but it’s fine and the novelty of going there is fun!
The shrimp tacos are realllly yummy! Definitely a dish I crave!!!
Thanks for stopping in ☺️ I hope you have a great week ahead & I hope you can visit Austin again soon!!
Hope you had a good Christmas. I love that your pool has reservations, is this a Covid thing? It should be an always thing. I always hate when pools are super crowded and having reservations would allow everyone to have their space!
Hi Lori! Thank you so much- I hope you had a nice Christmas too 🎄 and yes the reservations are a COVID thing & they seem to work very well! I’m thankful they did that! Hope you had a nice weekend – thanks for reading ☺️!!
Hehe makes me giggle when I see the name Aussie (it’s slang for Australians, like myself) – the food doesn’t look very Australian though…
xoxo
Natalie
http://nataliesdailylife.wordpress.com
Oh that is too funny! We actually were kind of wondering about that! I am curious- do Australians like to be called that? Or is it considered a less desirable name used? Lol.
Also, I am not very aware of Australian food!! (Except for vegemite). What are some of your favorite dishes?
We Australians are pretty casual. So Aussie is fine (although I personally think the term is a little bogan – bogan is the Australian equivalent of redneck). As far as food is concerned there isn’t reaally Australian food – we pretty much have what you have in the US (going by just California, which is the only US State I have visited) – but you have much better Mexican food from my experience!
xoxo
Natalie
This is so interesting to me!! Thank you for sharing!! California does have some of the best Mexican food- so you went to a great place to experience it 🙂 I actually think California may be the state with the best food overall- I think some may fight me on that though, lol.
Ahhh I love shrimp tacos! Makes me long for summer!
Yess! Speaking of which- Is it summer yet? Lol! Hope you had a nice weekend Carly ☺️
I hope that you had a lovely Christmas, Mackenzie! Happy Belated Anniversary. I love shrimp tacos. Those look sooo delish! We have a few Yeti pieces. The 30 oz tumbler is my go-to for my daily water since it keeps the ice from melting. We also have water bottle ones that we use for the beach and kayaking. One of my fave memories of this month is baking cookies with my daughter. 🙂 I hope that you have a Happy New Year! xx
Thank you, Amy!! I hope you had a wonderful Christmas too! thank you for the anniversary wishes! We are amazed at how well Yeti insulates everything – I need to use one for water – usually I just use it for coffee, so that is a great idea!
Aw that is so special. I’m sure that was a great memory for your daughter too ☺️
Happy happy new year to you too!!!
I hope you’re having a wonderful holiday! I absolutely loveeee my Yeti! I use it for my coffee on the way to work and it stays hot the whole ride AND all morning while I sip on it! How nice that your pool has a reservation system! Our pool never opened this summer, which I was a little bummed about because we still haven’t checked it out but luckily we used his parent’s pool all summer.
My favorite memory from this past month is probably just all the family time we’ve gotten! The holidays definitely looked a lot more different this year but nonetheless enjoyable!
Thanks, Em!!! I hope you had a wonderful holiday season too ☺️ it’s so hard to find something that keeps coffee hot that long so thank goodness for Yetis!!!
That’s great you could still use your parent’s pool- but hopefully by this summer yours will be opened back up!!
Aw I love that so much ☺️❤️ If I remember right, your family had some tough moments last year with health scares, so being together like that probably was extra special!!
Thanks for stopping in, Em!
Again, I have to say I never knew Austin was so beautiful … I always thought it might be a big city, Cosmopolitan. I like how all those turtles congregate in the water – usually they are on the log. Five years already … the flowers are gorgeous. Two lucky people who one day will be able to spend all the quality time they want with one another without school getting in the way … as for work, well I don’t know how much work will intrude on your time spent together. I know Christmas and New Year’s look different this year – hopefully this time next year, things are back to normal. Time is ticking and soon school commences again … I hope your break was everything and more you hoped it would be Mackenzie.
I always feel the same way, Linda! I’m glad I can share the beauty of Austin here ☺️
Aww I could practically tear up at hearing that about us having that time together! At least we should have evenings and most weekends together even with the work grind! It’ll be so nice to not have anything hanging over our heads.
I really hope things go back to normal soon too by this time next year. The break was wonderful- much needed and still productive with studying! Hope you had a nice weekend, Linda!
I hope you took some photos of the snow in between hitting the books Mackenzie. When I heard that most of Texas had snow yesterday, I Googled to see if Austin did – according to a news article, you had 4.5 inches of snow! I was amazed at that.
I’d say you have a long weekend next week for MLK Day, but maybe not, as you’re hitting the books, whether school is in session or not.
We’ve had a good run of day and no snow in store until Friday and minimal at that, so been getting some daily walks in.
Stay safe (and productive)!!
Ironically, I am reading this comment now, even though it was a month ago! We are snowed in again-It is absolutely wild! And there are rolling power outages everywhere. Luckily we still have ours for now. I hope you are doing great and still able to get some walks in during this wild winter!
I thought of you today Mackenzie … they were giving updates on Texas power outages, snow, cold and they mentioned Austin. You two are no stranger to snow, but who wants snow and cold there? I hope you don’t have to go out at all and keep your power on. I was able to walk last weekend both days, but did not walk for eight days before that as the snow/ice and brutal cold was bad … they didn’t salt or plow the streets as it was too cold and their products would not melt and I thought it better to stay home. We had 8 inches of snow last night and we are going to -7 temperatures tonight. Hurry Spring!
So true!! So far, so good with the power *knock on wood*. We really are sooo lucky. I am very thankful, but I am really worried about so many people in our city that have lost power and have pipes bursting.. it’s a scary situation.
Wow! That is wild that up there they couldn’t even plow! That’s when you know things are pretty intense. I agree- hurry, spring!
I hope your power stays on Mackenzie. I’ve had water trickling and doing a small load of laundry twice a day for two weeks now. That is my fear that we will lost power and the pipes will burst. The weather is just not like are accustomed too – very erratic, even scary. I think they didn’t bother to plow as the salt is not good at that low of a temperature but I’m guessing as to that.
Oh wow, I didn’t realize it was that bad there too! I totally get that fear- there were sooo many burst pipes all over Austin during the snowpocalypse. Are things turning up there now?
It has gotten better as the Polar Vortex moved on. I feel badly for the mess that people endured in Texas, not to mention the cost of cleanup and high energy costs. I understand from our news that some still do not have their water turned on in Texas.
It was definitely bad there for a while- even weeks after I know some people couldn’t return to their apartments from the water damage. Hopefully most things are on the up and up now with all that. Hard to believe that even happened just a month ago as I see sunny and 75 today
I know – we had Detroit Edison people down there initially to help with some of the power outages. I don’t know if they usually go that far in their efforts to help neighboring states, but a convoy did go there to help y’all out. 🙂 Yes, it’s so easy to forget that bad weather when it is sunny and warm again. 🙂
Oh wow I didn’t know that- how awesome! 🙂 thankful for their help!!
That yeti white rambler is my favorite! The best part might just be the handle lol I ended up buying one for all my bridesmaids but after the fact was like, I want one too 😂 Happy 5 year to you and DJ!! You two are such a sweet couple! Happy holidays girlie and Happy New Year!! <3
I’m glad you agree about the white 😍 that was so smart to do for a bridesmaid gift!! Thank you so much for the anniversary wishes 🥰 hope you had a beautiful holiday season and new year so far!! ❤️