Year of the Nilla Wafer

Man, did I feel like crap when I woke up this morning. It wasn’t that I rang in the New Year too hard, it was because I ate a Freebirds burrito with extra Death Sauce late yesterday afternoon.

Yesterday started with my stumbling out of bed and grumbling as I walked outside to take down all of the Christmas lights. After pulling down, packing up and putting away all of the lights, I washed the two trucks and then drove to Freebirds to get an early dinner for Elise and me.

Preggers went to work for a little bit and then to the grocery store. While she was gone, I read some riveting literature on breast feeding and then took a nap. When she returned, we got dressed and headed over to Kirk and Lanessa’s neighborhood for a small New Years block party. It was one of the more conservative New Years parties that we’ve been to in a long while. The kids, most of which being girls, singing in unison songs from the Black Eyed Peas and Gwen Stefani outnumbered the adults.

Lanessa and Elise

Since Central Texas is under a burn ban, there wasn’t much fireworks other than singing girls with sparklers. We rang in the New Year at midnight and shortly after, Elise and I headed home, both took our Geritol and went to bed.

We headed out this morning to return a glider chair that we bought for Elise. We then decided it was time for yours truly to tour the new Whole Foods. I think everyone else in Austin had the same idea. Whole Foods seems like it is great but it was so chaotic there that I didn’t have a chance to take it all in. That and being repeatedly bumped into by the patchouli people really got my goat. It was impossible to “shop” – the task at hand was to avoid making physical contact with any one. We did make out with some blood oranges, guajillos, tomatillos and a bag of sea salt pita chips.

The two things I like about Whole Foods is how groceries are organized by geographic regions. I spent most of my browsing time in the Mediterranean aisle and the Texas aisle. Yes, Texas is a geographic region. The other great thing about WF is all of the ready-to-eat foods. We walked in circles, bumping into people, eyeing the mini-restaurants and buffets, trying to find what we wanted to eat for lunch. We both decided on salads and I had a small bowl of chicken chipotle soup. The soup was good, the salads were nothing to write home about.

I was hoping my first experience at the new Whole Foods would be like a kid in a candy store. Instead I just wanted to get the hell out of there.

So Festivus is over. Next up on the calendar: The Rose bowl and then Josh turns 30.

Happy New Year!