Thanksgiving in Galveston

We're in the middle of one of the best trips in recent memory. Like the California trip, but with Julian.

Galveston has become the beloved temporary home of our friends Penny and Christina. Christina is going to school just a few blocks away from their historic home. They've allowed us to stay at their beautiful, peaceful space for a few days while they are celebrating Thanksgiving with their families elsewhere.

Our families are in Missouri, Waco and Fort Worth, but we're here. Everyone needs a break from tradition, especially when I've spent the past month up to my ears in turkeys, pies and sweet potato casseroles for work.




We had our own little Thanksgiving dinner yesterday, with smashed potatoes, greens and lamb from my friend Mr. Loncito Cartwright.




Before the girls left, La Espanola Christina made a seafood paella that would have made Sofia, Diana and the rest of mi familia espanola proud. We all sat around, scraping the socorat off the bottom of the pan. A communal meal. An early Thanksgiving.

But getting away, just the three of us, has been so nice. We explored the marshes of Galveston State Park yesterday, and who knows what the rest of the trip holds in store.








More when we return!

Julian, the baker

On my quest to bake as many of the recipes submitted to the Statesman's virtual holiday cookie swap as possible, Julian and I went to our food blogger friend's house. Kristin has four little kiddos herself, so Jules got to play with them and help us bake.

Halloween in Missouri

We're getting back into the swing of things in Austin after our trip to Missouri over the weekend. It was time for a fall visit, something I don't think I've done since I was pregnant with Julian (which meant I couldn't ride the roller coasters at Silver Dollar City. Yes, I was pissed, but I'm over it. :))

Just Julian and I went; Ian needed some time to record his next album, and everyone knows that a break from the norm does everyone wonders. Going to Missouri as a family has been the norm for a number of holidays, which is why we aren't going back for Thanksgiving or Christmas. I don't think I've missed both since I lived in Spain, but we need a break from the traditional fall/holiday schedule.

The trip this time was one of the best. The leaves were crisp and bright yellow and orange. We went to a pumpkin patch and on a hay ride. Stopped by a Marionville orchard to buy apples and hot cider. Ate both cashew chicken and blue corn popcorn. Hung out with one of childhood friend Lindsey's new baby and all the Missouri family members, which now includes Mimi and Woody, my dad's mom and stepdad.

Trick-or-treating was a blast, even though Julian didn't want to wear his costume. My sister took the cake with her Mary Poppins outfit. My mom and I, as usual, raided her closet. The dress I'm wearing she remembers wearing when she was pregnant with Chelsea.

History. Family. Home. All in one neat little package called Aurora.

Missouri Halloween forecast: Cloudy with a 100 percent chance of meatballs

Our little meatball got to have a practice run on Tuesday at his daycare's Halloween party. We're off to Missouri today to spend the candy-filled weekend with my family, which means I had to unstuff his costume and we'll restuff it there.

Fall, I hope you are as excited to see me as I am to see you.

Living the sweet life

Ian and I got to go to La Dolce Vita last week, one of the premiere food events in the city. Thankfully, Aaron and Sarah hung out with Jules so we got to play. Annie Ray, a local photographer, does these fun photo booths at events around town. Thanks, Annie, for the great shot!

Sending Shannon on her way

Austin isn't perfect, but it's a good place to call home. Good enough that when people like Blythe and now Shannon move away, people can't seem to understand why.

And they might not have understood it entirely, but they knew they had to go. So they went. Blythe a few years ago to Colorado, and now Shannon, with her sweet son, to Florida.

Oh, Florida.

Shannon's mom is there, which will help with Z over the next few years. I've always been in awe of her ability to manage life as a single mom. No one plans it to be that way. Sometimes it just happens. Rather than letting it defeat her, or even slow her down, Shannon pushed on. She and Z lived the most fulfilling Austin life, the kind you try to keep living each year after that first magical Year in Austin. Hyde Park was the perfect hood to bike around. She let us come along to play on the greenest of greens at the golf course and in her most magical backyard forest.

Z always had the best toys, and Shannon always made the best tea. "You gotta get a Thermos," she'd tell me as we sipped her homemade chai. Every once in a while, I'd get lucky and she'd give me a mini yoga lesson. I still can't imagine my stiff body as fluid as hers, but it's fun to roll out the mat and try.


We made dinner last week. Broccoli and potatoes roasted with olive oil and garlic, served with grass-fed beef. We sat on the carpet and didn't even spill our wine. Z and Jules watched a movie, and we just hung out, enjoying the last dinner. I know I'll see them again, but it's still the end of a chapter.

Chapters big and small end all the time, and I'm learning to deal with that better. It feels good to send her off with a proper goodbye. Chapters rarely end that way.

There are lots of farewells that didn't happen. For whatever reason. And then time passes.

I tend to take the quiet route, letting leaves rest where they fall. It's easier that way. But thankfully, I got one-on-one time with both Shannon and Blythe before that predetermined time they each picked to move arrives and it's time to go.

There are such things as nice goodbyes.

Ramen noodles, anoles and meatball cars

For the past week, we've been eating ramen noodles every day for a story that's coming out this Wednesday. Yes, that's right. Seven days of ramen noodles. It's been a challenge, but a fun experiment in creativity. By the end, we were eating meatballs and red sauce with ramen or thai basil pesto ramen topped with a fried egg.


Julian was a trooper; he didn't complain once about the incessant curly noodles. But I think I speak for us all that we'll be happy not to eat ramen noodles for a while.

We've had the most incredible weather in recent days. Mid-70s and lots of sun. We've had so much rain lately that our yard finally turned green again. I wasn't sure it would ever be anything but dirt after this summer. But just a few weeks of good, hearty rain and we're among the rest of the universe that has to mow their lawn (up until this week, we'd only had to mow one time this year).

Julian and Ian set out to make a meatball car, which apparently delivers meatballs. I imagine this is in conjunction with Julian's desire to be a meatball man for Halloween.



We've had the best weekend. Two great days together, enjoying the weather and each other. And more ramen than I've eaten in a long, long time.

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Speaking of what used to be our backyard of dirt, I just found this video I think I forgot to post. It's of one of the first rains we got after this crazy dry summer, and you can see what a mess our yard was.

That's one big grub

One of the biggest grubs I've seen. A soon-to-be rhino beetle, I think. Apparently, it's like the one Bear Grylls ate during an episode of "Man v. Wild." Ian gets the point for this one; he found it while digging his plot of the garden.

Just hanging around

on a lazy Saturday.

Watching over the game

Statesman photographer Ralph Barrera took this picture during a football game at House Park, a high school stadium near our billboard on Lamar Boulevard. "High school football game will never look the same to me now," he says.