right then, we'll go back to normal soon

I try not to indulge in this sort of thing in my journal, but oh dear gods above, I went down a size in jeans. I can't remember that ever happening. I'm so glad I could scream. I don't have any wacky ideas that I'm going to be conventionally thin or whatever, but going down two sizes or three sizes was my goal because it would be a) easier to buy clothes, b) I'd feel better and be able to borrow Melynda's clothes again, and c) I'd probably be marginally healthier. But the point is that the no fast food no soda thing seems to be helping.

Still in Houston. I think we're having lunch and then probably heading back. Tyler is still passed out on the sofa. Yesterday we went to the Natural History museum, which is really cool and saw the Lord of the Rings exhibit. They had tons of props and costumes, even a fake dead Boromir in a boat and a line of orcs and uruk hai. It was so fantastic. They had several of Alan Lee's beautiful watercolors and sketches hanging up, and I'm really, really upset that they did not have prints or anything for sale. (they did have the elven cloaks for sale for $998. Oi. Anyhow, I loved seeing the pieces up close. The detail on the costuming is incredible, far beyond what you imagine it to be. No to mention the metal work on the armor suits, or the eight million small objects made like the books and scrolls of wizards libraries. The Nazgul comstume was so creepy, poised just so, and the scale model of Orthanc rocked. The only downsides to the exhibit was the sizeable crowd of people and the lack of prints. I liked museums on the off days best. But we had an excellent time, and the museum has a totally kick ass sundial outside. I confess an unholy love for sundials.

take me home, country roads

Tyler is the best driving friend ever because not only did he stop so I could buy some kolache, he also stopped at the pecan shop so I could get giant bags of cinnamon sugar pecans. Mmmm, cinnamon sugar pecans. Love love love. We also purchased dill infused garlic cloves which we will make into something delicious. It was a nice drive and we made good time, except for that moment when Tyler tried to slip out of cruise and stomped on the clutch instead of the brake... ha ha ha. His driving in Houston was a riot. The more I'm in his car, the more I think I want to buy a Scion. Good acceleration turns me on and that car is just really fun to drive. Plus, six disc cd in dash! Yay.

Anyway, enough about cars. This morning was coffee with Krista, who will have a fabulously unique wedding dress one day. I'm looking forward to it. We ate lunch with Melynda and had horrendous service but good food. In theory that's better than the opposite. Wes also installed an OS on Tyler's old desktop machine which will become my machine. I'm thinking about decorating the case. This is my new project. I can't decide if I am going to paint or decoupage it. Maybe a bit of both, we'll see.

I'm back in Austin now. We're hanging out at Texpresso while we wait for traffic to die down. I'm feeling quite chipper.

During out slumber party at Melynda's house, we discussed the many varieties and forms of evil. Wes decided true evil doesn't bite, it just gums you a bit. We laughed so hard, I'm really surprised we didn't wake anyone up.