Texas Lou

Archive for the ‘Summer’ Category

We are getting dangerously close to the end of summer, and although I LOVE fall and all of the beautiful colors and changing leaves and cool and crisp air it brings with it, I dread the shorter days and decrease in sunlight.  The fall colors are something that I never really saw growing up in Houston that I’ve really come to apreciate here in Virginia.  However, the shorter days where it gets dark around 5 PM is also something  that I never saw growing up that I really can’t stand.  It brings on a serious case of Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD 🙁 ).

With these last few days of summer and late evenings still filled with dwindling sunlight, I’m trying to soak up as much of it as I can get before the time change.  The Meade Park Farmers Market that takes place every Wednesday afternoon from 3 PM until 7 in Charlottesville is about to come to a close for the season next week so I suggested to Ben that we go for a run to the market after work.  After a beautiful 2.75 mile run to the market in perfect temperatures, we arrived at the market where we bumped into some friends, got to sample some delicious and nutritious bread from the Great Harvest Bread Company, and ended up buying some fresh and local green beans and swiss chard.  We than ran the 2.75 miles back home along the Rivanna River where I cooked barbecue chicken (with authentic Texas Rudy’s barbecue sauce – thanks to Cheryl and Dan), asparagus, and garlic parmesan sauteed zuccini.  After dinner, Ben and I watched 21 Jump Street, the movie and laughed our butts off!  I highly recommend it especially if you’re looking for a good laugh.

It was a great day, made even better by the fact that rather than going and sitting in front of a computer all day, I got to spend the work day volunteering with my company for the Thomas Jefferson Area United Way Day of Caring.  We organized closets, separated donated childrens’ clothing, and made goody bags for young families in the area at the Child, Youth, & Family Services in Charlottesville.  It was wonderful to learn about the organization, help out my community, meet lots of new people, and give my time and effort to such a great cause.  And you should have seen the amazing lunch they provided us!!!

I’d have to say it was definitely a summer day to remember!

Last night, I went downtown to Fridays After Five, a free concert held at the Charlottesville Pavilion every Friday in the summer time, to meet up with the AMAZING Travis family(Robin, Sterling, and Sarah, my sister-in-law) to see Craig Travis (Sarah’s dad) sing with his former band the Houserockers.

After bumping into some friends and enjoying good conversation while sipping on local Star Hill beer, we went to the front of the pavilion to cheer on the Houserockers and dance and sing along.  The Houserockers put on a wonderful performance and Sarah’s dad is truly talented.

I apologize for the blurriness of these pictures, but we were dancing after all!

Robin, Sterling, and Sarah waiting for Craig’s performance. I love this family!

My sister from another mister and I!

Craig singing front and center.

Go Houserockers!

After the show, Sterling, Sarah, and I stopped off at Miyako for some sushi and edamame.  It was a great way to start the weekend and I’m so glad I FINALLY got to see the Houserockers perform after hearing so many great things about them from the Travis family!

I know it’s been a while since I’ve updated the blog!  It’s been an extremely busy summer with lots of traveling, special occasions, and activities!

Recently, I’ve been helping my friend Sarah get ready for her wedding that is two weeks from tomorrow, but once things calm down some and the slow and relaxing air of autumn is here, I will share all of my adventures!

Charlottesville must have angered the gods because yesterday we had one hell of a storm!

Yesterday, Charlottesville experienced what the meteorology world calls a microburst.  And it was the second microburst experienced by the Charlottesville area in less than three weeks!

I was driving from work to pick up Ben so that we could go to my Team in Training Batesville Store fundraiser.  Ben works in the heart of downtown Charlottesville which was the hardest hit area, so lucky me got caught in the middle of the maelstrom that came out of nowhere.

I was driving and chatting with my brother on the phone when I heard a message from the Emergency Broadcast System come on the radio.  I knew a storm was coming because I saw dark clouds and heard thunder, but I just expected it to be a quick passing summer storm so I didn’t pay too much attention.  Less than two minutes later, rain started pounding, large branches started beating my car, and huge tree limbs were blocking parts of the road.  I barely had time to turn on my windshield wipers when I heard a loud popping noise on my right.  There was a huge burst of flames from a power line in the field next to where I was driving.  I quickly put down the phone (the storm had already ended my call for me) and started to inch my way through torrential downpours, strong winds, and falling trees.

When I was almost to Ben’s office building, I heard another loud popping noise, this time on my left.  This one was even louder and came with a flash of blue light that scared the shit out of me!  I believe it was a transformer blowing.  When I got to Ben’s office parking lot, the storm was starting to die down, but the parking lot was covered in trees and a downed power line.

Ben and I spent the next two hours driving around Charlottesville trying to find a way to Batesville, and then giving up on the fundraiser and trying to get home.  Traffic was terrible because of power outages affecting traffic lights, trees blocking roads and intersections, and power lines down everywhere.  We saw one tree that had a root system at least 10 to 15 feet in diameter that had been uprooted and was leaning against a house.  We saw a light post that had been broken from its pole and was dangling near a power line.  We saw several trees and power line poles snapped in half.

I’ve never seen so much damage and I grew up were hurricanes and tornadoes are a common occurrence.

When we FINALLY got home, we were surprised to see the large poplar tree that is usually staring back at as through our fourth story windows on the ground.  We have worried about this tree falling and damaging our building many times in the past, but I am glad it is finally no longer a threat and did not hurt anything or anyone in its demise.

Here are some pictures of the tree’s final resting place:

I’m glad that everyone I know was not hurt and we all came out alive and safe, but I’m still wondering what is with all this crazy weather: 2 large snow storms in December and February each totaling more than 2 feet of snow, 2 microbursts in June that have caused tons of damage, and a June heatwave that I’ve never seen in Virginia!

If you’d like to check out more pictures from the storm, they can be found here.

Last night was a blast!

Cheryl, Jennifer, Kristen, and I headed out to the Charlottesville Pavillion to celebrate the first day of summer and see Colbie Caillat and Sheryl Crow play!

We started out the evening at my apartment with a quick glass of wine and then headed to the downtown mall.  You may remember me writing about Ventana a few months ago and their very unique margaritas.  Well Ventana was offering a discount to all Sheryl Crow ticket holders so we decided to stop in for a pre-concert cocktail.  I finally got to try the cucumber margarita.  It was delicious!  It wasn’t as good as the jalapeno margarita, but it was definitely the perfect refreshing beverage for a hot summer day.  Jennifer tried the strawberry margarita and Cheryl had the habanero margarita which I tried the last time I was at Ventana.

After drinks, we headed to the Pavillion for the music.  We enjoyed some awesome Star Hill Lucy as we chatted and listened to Colbie Caillat play.

When Sheryl Crow took the stage, we got to hear all of our old favorites and some new ones too!  We danced and sang and had a great time and even bumped into some more friends!

Overall, it was an awesome first day of summer.  We definitely started Summer 2010 off right!

Summer makes me feel young.  The sun makes me feel happy, and today, the first official day of summer, is the day with the most hours of sunlight.

I’m celebrating by going to an outdoor concert to see Sheryl Crow and Colbie Caillat this evening with some awesome ladies!

In honor of the true beginning of summer, I wanted to post one of my favorite summer pictures.

This was taken by one of my best friends and partners in crime, Sarah Travis, a couple of summers ago while camping at Spy Rock in Nelson County, Virginia.  From left to right sit Ben, Me, Ian (Ben’s younger brother and Sarah’s fiance), and Sarah.  We had a great time that involved hiking, climbing, watching the sunset, building a bonfire, roasting weenies, and watching the stars.  This will always hold a special place in my heart as one of my favorite camping trips and summer days!

Here are a couple of other pictures from that evening (also taken by Sarah).

I hope everyone kicks off their summer right and enjoys some fresh air and sunshine today!