Last Weekend,

1. JFoo had a cocktail formal,

The Pretty

The Prettier

The Host

The Eyebrows and the Pout-Dimple

The Pseudo-Socialites

The Drinks I only got a sip of because they were snapped up so quickly :(

The Shoes

2. I went to County Line on The Hill to celebrate Becks' belated birthday and Chelsey's new job,
3. And I went to Holi, the Festival of Colors with my fellow peer mentor Saloni. We threw water balloons and colored powder at random people. I'm not especially stressed, but it was still a great stress-reliever.



Quarter Count: 39!!! I'm missing New York, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Colorado, Massachusetts, Missouri and Wisconsin (Arizona, New Mexico, Alaska and Hawaii haven't been released yet).

Taking Back Easter

A hilarious and heart-breaking way to display one's rejection of the holiday's commercialization:

Quarter Count: 25 (I'm halfway there!)

My Noble Pursuit

I've embarked on the slightly old-ladyish mission of collecting all 50 of the 50 State Quarters by the end of this year. Read more about the program here. So far I have Arkansas, North and South Carolina, Illinois, Nebraska, Louisiana, South Dakota, Oregon, Virginia, Tennessee and Washington. Which means I'm more than one-fifth of the way towards my goal. Help me out, Austin people!

UPDATE
Current Quarter Count: 23

New Orleans, Part Two

I found my dream vehicle!

Weird pose, Chris.

This car reminded me of Austin. Love the vaguely hip-hoppy spray-painted fleurs-de-lis..

Possibly my favorite street performance. Gave him a dollar.

Cafe Du Monde's famous beignets (pronounced ben-YAYs). Think French hum chin peng with heaps of powdered sugar. Best eaten with a steaming cup of their cafe au lait (background).

There is an art to eating beignets outdoors, and I haven't mastered it yet. Kirsten looks like she knows what she's doing, though.

Our wonderful four poster bed.

The board said "Pin your home country," So I did.

Outside Angeli on Decatur, home of great red pepper-bacon-pesto-swiss cheese burgers and pasta salad. I like that tattooed man in the background.

My only souvenir - a print by local artist James Michalopoulos. When I get rich I want to buy more of his stuff :)

The gang again, after walking 45 minutes in search of the obscure Angelo Brocato Ice Cream Shop. So worth it.

Next to the porch swing, the B&B's best feature was its hot tub. Nothing like a good hot bubbly soak on a rainy night.

Yet another weird pose from Chris. Our room was the door to the right.

New Orleans, Part One

I'm tempted to just direct all of you to Kirsten's post. She did such a good job describing our Spring Break that I have hardly any motivation to blog about it now. But I will, because it was that enjoyable.

Day One

Got off to a less-than-auspicious start. Grey skies, pouring rain. Totally not the scene I had envisioned when I burned our road trip mix CD full of shamelessly poppy driving ditties including "Beautiful Day" and "MMMBop." Drove (okay, Chris drove) to Houston to spend the night at Jan's, had dim sum and Kirsten got food poisoning. Was trying to stay upbeat, but I was really concerned that she would be sick the entire trip. Went to bed praying that everything would be okay. No good photos.

Day Two

Left Houston around 7am. By the time we crossed the state line into Louisiana, the skies had brightened considerably and Kirsten was talking again. YAY!

My first meal in Louisiana - Seafood gumbo at Crawfish Town. A peppery stew of crabmeat and shrimp, served over rice.

One of the first houses I spied in the French Quarter. Love it!

Our B&B, which was nothing short of amazing. That's our innkeeper Phillip at the front door.

The shophouse opposite our B&B. Don't you just love the little old man? And if you look closer, you'll see that the tree is fully draped with Mardi Gras beads.

The iconic Blue Dog by famed New Orleans artist George Rodrigue. See him paint it here

Hard Rock Cafe. Inside, Adam Levine's tattered jeans were displayed in a glass box. I wouldn't call that rock 'n' roll memorabilia...

St. Louis Cathedral

Hawt Dawgs

Chatting with one of the natives

There was some interesting art going on on top of the roof, but I couldn't capture it.

Bright colors and a forced smile - tired lah

Dinner at Adolfo's: Okay, this deserves so much more than just a one-liner caption. This, my friends, is red snapper smothered in the chef's special Ocean Sauce - a rich, creamy mix of tender shrimp, crawfish, shredded crab, tons of herbs and capers. It was probably the best meal I've had in the US. Thanks for the recommendation, Phillip!

The (in)famous Bourbon Street: sex, booze and loud music. It was kinda gross but the energy was undeniable.

We quickly escaped to the more subdued (but no less entertaining) The Spotted Cat, a bar just outside of the French Quarter. Had a Cosmopolitan while listening to this

Day Three

View from the streetcar/tram

With my hero at the Mardi Gras Museum
These kids were touring the museum along with us
Street musicians
Group shot in the streetcar
Louis Armstrong in Algiers, a city across the Mississippi River

My teammates

View of the New Orleans skyline from the ferry

Elizabeth's Restaurant: Not much to look at from the outside, but it turned out to be another gush-worthy dining location. Had the Elizabeth's Dream Burger with blue cheese and the house specialty - PRALINE BACON. Absolutely delicious. Here's a radio segment on how they make their famous sweet-and-salty confection.

The Blanket Thing

SPRRRING BRRREAK. Tomorrow I'm off to Houston, then New Orleans, hopefully with a bit of Biloxi or Baton Rouge thrown in for good measure. (Note to self: curb Asian tendency to say "New orLEENS" and replace with "New ORlins" or even better, "Noo AWlins.") Can't wait for some good live music and Louisiana Creole cuisine... crawfish, jambalaya, gumbo and beignets. We're staying at a charming B&B in the heart of the French Quarter, the oldest and most famous neighborhood in the city. I just burned our road trip mix CD and am now doing last-minute packing. I'm not bringing my Mac, so I'll be happily "disconnected" for the week. Updates when I get back. 

Speaking of disconnection, here are two of my favorite movie scenes, from the hilarious I Heart Huckabees:

This is for Beth:

and this is for Munyuk:

Zilker Park Kite Festival

Pre-Festival kite-making at Jan's on Friday

Was assigned to the design team

JFoo and Angela's art

Final product! Click for full effect.

I've been drawing the same thing since Sec 1. How's that for artistic stagnation?

Sunday was Kite Day! It was also the windiest day I have ever experienced in Austin. How could the organizers have known that? Thousands of people and kites descended upon Zilker Park (well, the kites mostly ascended, but whatever) and we were there to get a piece of the action. Even though none of our home-made kites really flew, and we were constant in danger of being sliced, strangled or whacked in the head by errant kites, I still had fun.

Jan and Paul's ugly but relatively effective garbage bag creation

We 'stole' the red and yellow one

Let's hope Daph doesn't kill me for this

SuperNerd!

This dog kept getting tangled in/chewing on other people's kite strings

Poor impaled kites

Kirsten and our patriotic kite which wouldn't fly

Hoops and hair

Oh baby, though you didn't make it very far in the air...

... I still love you!

My Afternoon with the Phantom

Went to San Antonio on Saturday with Kirsten, Kenaz and Ding Ding. That city doesn't have that big scary urban feel that you get when you go to Dallas or Houston. Very touristy and very pretty. We got there at one and the show was at two, so we raced around the tourist-infested River Walk frantically looking for a place to eat. Finally settled on Saltgrass and had a rushed but very satisfying 10-minute lunch. Raced back to the Majestic Theater, found our seats, and surrendered our next two and a half hours to The Phantom of the Opera.

I wish I could say I was enthralled beyond belief. Gorgeous, gorgeous costumes (especially during "Masquerade") and sets (the dry-ice filled boat scene, in particular), which were only enhanced by the slightly ostentatious interior design of the Majestic. Andrew Lloyd Webber's songs are timeless and I will always love "Think of Me." But I think I'm more of a movie person because of my constant need to see facial features and expressions. In a musical, the actors always seem too inaccessible. I guess I prefer the total escapism that the movie medium offers. Or maybe I should have just brought binoculars like the old lady two rows in front of me.

On another slightly annoyed note, why can't I rotate pictures for Blogger on my Mac? Help.

Proud of the Homeland, Part 2

Friday afternoon. I was at Jester about to take the elevator up to work when I passed by a lecture hall. An advertising class had just ended, and this was on the big screen:

No matter where you are, there's no escaping the Singapore Girl.