SO many activities.

We decided to take this last weekend off from working on the house and enjoy some of Austin.  Darrell, Scott [my brother] and I love sushi, and on a Friday night we decided to partake in the Kona Grill happy hour.  I wouldn't say it's the best sushi ever, but for $3 a roll, its kind of hard to beat.  They also have their sake bombs on special as well, which include a full bottle of Kiren and a warm small bottle of sake.  I decided to pass on this special since I was spinning for the first time in the morning. Needless to say, I drove home and the boys had a dance party in the back seat of my car.  Top night.

Like I said, Friday night one of my girls asked if I wanted to go with her to a spin class.  I was a little intimidated and very intrigued, so I joined her at 9 a.m. on Saturday morning.  Overall, the class was not so bad.  We walked in and picked out our bikes.  We were instructed to place the bike seat to the same height as our hip bones and the handle bars the same distance of your arm from seat to bars.  Once we were all sized up, we were set to go.  I always have a hard time gauging how much energy I should use when it is my first time doing a workout.  Not to mention you are in control of how hard or how easy you want your resistance by a turn of a dial on your bike.  We did a series of easy "flat" services and then harder "hills" and repeated that series.  My favorite was what she called jump ups. This is where we would kick up the resistance and stand for 2 minutes pedaling and then sit for 2 minutes.  We repeated that for 1 minute and 30 seconds.  I left feeling like I burned some serious calories, but wasn't completely tired.  My butt was definitely sore the next day.  Overall, I'd do it again, but worth the gym membership?  I think I'll utilize the strategy on my own bike on the open road. :o)  

We were also excited that one of my cousins, that just got married, was passing through Austin on the way to a wedding in San Antonio on Saturday.  The 3 of us met up with Sarah and her new hubby, which I wasn't able to meet previously since I couldn't make the wedding.  We took them out to one of my favorite places to eat, Trudy's.  We sat out on the patio, and although it was shaded and covered, I don't think they were quite use to this Texas heat.  It was so nice to catch up with her and we will be working on a huge family gathering soon... It's been WAY too long.  

Our next activity for the day [see I said we had a lot planned] was to meet some of our friends out at a local brewery for their 2nd anniversary party.  512 Brewery had an open invitation party where you would pay $5 for a glass and you got 3 tickets to fill that glass with any of their tasty beers.  Let me tell you this was from 2-5 on Saturday and it was hot! Their brewery is located in South Austin and literally hidden in this little neighborhood.  It actually is in an industrial park, but there wasn't that much space for the crowd that it brought in.  Once you got your glass, you had 2 options, a smaller line outside with not as many beers, or inside where the line was outrageous.  We got our first beer outside, but had to explore the brewery.  I was toasty by the time we made it inside so we decided to camp out in this little nook in the back corner.  The best part was we could easily 'sneak' back into line and get beer quicker.  So for those who have not drank with me, I am good for 2 things: 1. The ability to get other people to drink, A LOT and 2. Getting people to give me stuff for free.  Well I must say I rocked out on the 2nd one because I think we each had 5+ beers with out using all of our tickets. It was a good time.  Oh and I also make lots of new friends.  So on the way to the bathroom inside the brewery, I see this guy reach for the secret drink hidden back on a shelf.  Of course I am curious.  I'm like hey, now you can't just bust that out and not share.  Come to find out it is the owner of 512 and its some Brandy that they had made at one point.  He offers me a little taste of it and I look over to see all my friends looking at me like, "What the -" And I just smile.  Don't worry, I end up getting tastes for all of them as well.  Like I said, it's an art.  So we had fun there, but the day was still early so we continued the afternoon at the Flying Saucer.  Nothing better than an afternoon outside with some great friends and some tasty beer. 
 

{Very excited for the glass to be filled for the first time}

{Darrell's excited face}

{Scott just can't hold in his excitement}

{First Fill.  Tried their One.2 Beer, which was the one they released for this party}

{Inside the brewery... Kind of reminds me of my grandparents milk barn :o) }

{The beer tap inside.  They had 5 different on tap. They all were delicious.}

{These fans were great, but I was really taking a picture of the posters showcasing a few of their beers}

{CHEERS!}

Then Sunday rolled around.  We all were wanting some breakfast food, but at this time it was about noon.  After looking at some places online, I suggested trying a place we had seen on the Travel Channel and had always wanted to go to called, Juan in a Million.  They are famous for their breakfast burritos.  I must say this place was delish and probably a guys heaven.  Not only that but they had the soccer game on and you were served chips and salsa to start.  The famous burrito is called the Don Juan and we all ordered one.  When they placed it in front of me I was shocked. The serving for what they consider a 'burrito' is about the size of 4 of my fists.  It is a tasty concoction of egg, cheese, potato and bacon.  It also comes with tortillas underneath if you can get to them.  I definitely could not finish my portion, but lucky Darrell was there to help out. This famous burrito is also part of their challenge and the man with the most currently ate SEVEN.  God help him.  Definitely delicious and one of the cheapest places to eat in town.

 {Just look for this sign and you are there!}

{Wow. That's a HUGE amount of food}

After consuming way too many calories and a quite full stomach, we decide we need to work it off.  Darrell and I had been talking to Scott about going and playing frisbee golf, since neither of us had ever been.  We also talked a friend of ours to coming to Austin Saturday night so the four of us went 'golfing'.  Now I must say this was quite entertaining.  I had not touched a frisbee in ages, so I knew I would be terrible.  The first hole was not making it any easier.  The course that we chose was full of trees, hills, and a small river, all things you don't want in my way.  Needless to say, my first throw was no where near the right direction and almost got stuck in a tree.  Eventually I did get better and we all had quite the time on the 18-holes we played.  We kept score of the back 9 and I am proud to say I did not have the highest score!  I think with a little more practice I could actually really enjoy the game. 

{Scott at the start of Hole 3.  You can see the little map on the right.  All the holes were Par 3's, I maybe parred once :o) }

{Darrell of course decided to be good at it. Such a talented Hubby}

{Thought I'd leave you with the beautiful view from one of the last holes}

After that we were pretty much exhausted and came back home for the rest of the evening.  We enjoyed some TV and grilled out for dinner.  Over all we had a very action packed, fun, loving the outdoors weekend.  B