Emerging From My Shell (For a Few Days At Least)

Man, I kind of had a busy weekend. It was very unlike me, I have to say, considering I am the first person to describe myself as a hermit.

But this past week was Spring Break in Texas, which meant two things: my husband was out of town most of the week because he was playing at South By Southwest in Austin, and my friends who are teachers were free for daytime socializing.

So, with Hubby out of town, I was glad of the chance to hang out with people. And boy did I ever.

My "weekend" actually started on Thursday, when one of my friends came into town for lunch and she and Baby Girl and I enjoyed a fine meal at Riscky's BBQ (yum). If I am rating restaurants solely on the quality of their sweet tea (which I have been known to do), Riscky's is way, way up there, I have to say. Though I feel I must also mention that we decided to indulge in dessert (a first for me at this particular establishment, actually), and the carrot cake was also absolutely fantabulous. Even Baby Girl enjoyed it. After lunch, we hung at my house and played with Baby Girl in the backyard for a bit before walking up to Sonic. It was just too nice to stay indoors.

Friday I met up at the Fort Worth Zoo with a couple who are both teachers and who have a son a few weeks younger than Baby Girl. They had initially wanted to try going on Wednesday, which is half-price admission day, but I am thankful that we decided to move the trip to Friday instead. It was bonkers crazy crowded enough then! We mostly had a good time, wisely deciding to hit up the Texas Wild portion of the zoo at the start of our trip. It's in the very back of the zoo, and since we got there at opening and headed to the back first, it was not that crowded until we started making our way back to the rest of the zoo. But none of the three of us are very good with large crowds, and so we were quite quickly drained of energy and didn't hit up too many exhibits after that. We did get to check out the new outdoor addition to the penguin exhibit, and that was kind of awesome. Of course, then Baby Girl had something of a meltdown, which was less awesome. She desperately wanted just to push her stroller around and when I tried to put her back in it, she did not approve. Sigh. Usually I let her have a bit more free reign and wander around more when we go there, but usually there are not nearly so many other people we have to look out for, and she made it very clear that she did not appreciate not getting her way. She eventually calmed down once we started making our way through MOLA (Museum of Living Art, it is a really, really cool exhibit). But it was a pretty exhausting morning for all of us. Still, gotta love the zoo.

Baby Girl tries to catch some fish.

She enjoyed exploring the interactive displays.

Saturday was Super Social Day, to be sure. My super awesome mother-in-law came over to stay with Baby Girl and I got to go out and have some not-Mommy time. I met up with the friend I had lunch with on Thursday as well as three other friends at Grapevine Mills mall and we all had an absolutely fantastic lunch. Then we bummed around the mall for a bit (I found a super cute pair of flip-flops for Baby Girl for only $3. Okay, so I had a little bit of Mommy time).

Later that afternoon, three of us went to see the movie Paul and absolutely loved it. Seriously, this movie was hilarious. I was laughing pretty much the whole time. Almost as awesome as the good time with my friends and the incredible movie? The AMC at Grapevine now has a bar and kitchen--which means they now have iced tea! I was thrilled to learn this, as even as we were walking into the theater I was bemoaning the fact that there aren't enough theaters that sell iced tea. There really, really aren't. But now there is at least one more.

Yesterday was much more relaxed, though there was still some socializing. I slept in until I absolutely had to get Baby Girl up, and woke up to find my husband in bed with me (yay) as the band had taken a bus to South By and ridden home after the last gig Saturday night. I let him sleep in until I absolutely had to get him up for lunch purposes, and until then I hung out with Baby Girl and began watching the BBC miniseries of Pride and Prejudice (featuring Colin Firth, yum). While doing that I also picked up my Doctor Who scarf and made a pretty good deal of progress on it.

After lunch, Hubby's brother stopped by to say hi and visit with Baby Girl, and some of our friends (the couple I had enjoyed lunch with on Saturday but who had not been able to stay for the movie) stopped by as well to visit a little (and see Baby Girl). They walked to Sonic with us, and barring a few issues when our order was delivered (unsweet tea is a horrid, horrid thing, especially when you are expecting sugary goodness), it was a lovely way to wrap up the afternoon.

The evening was spent in much the same manner as the morning--with Baby Girl, my knitting, and Jane Austen. There was, of course, some tea involved. I could hardly be watching such a British show and making such a British thing as a Doctor Who scarf without having a good cup of tea, could I? Baby Girl thought she should be able to have a cup of tea as well (actually, she wanted my cup of tea), but I managed to distract her so I could drink it in relative peace.

All in all, I think it was a fantastic (and long) weekend. Now I am looking forward to a rather more normal and quiet week. Let's just see if that happens, shall we?