Santana & Contortionists

Bobby & I had an eventful Tuesday night...
After work, we met up to try out a new restaurant: Maria Maria. It is downtown at 5th and Colorado. Carlos Santana owns it, and you can definitely see his cool rockin' influence everywhere. The place is nice...smaller than I expected. It seemed like there was a lot of wasted space in the bar area...room for several more tables. But I think openness is what they are striving for. I can see it being a hotspot at night, full of people standing in the open areas socializing & drinking.
Even though I know you are all curious, I am not going to do a full review on our dining experience. During dinner last night, Bobby decided he is going to write a full review and post it on yelp and Google. I will link to his full review here….so you’ll have to check back. Safe to say....it won't be "glowing."

After dinner we headed to the Long Center to see Cirque Jungle....apparently along with everyone else in Travis County. It was about 7:00p and traffic in that area was completely outrageous. We eventually parked at Zilker Park and took a nice long stroll to the LC. We made it in time, but they started the show late because of "high traffic due to several events going on in the area."
Cirque Jungle was amazing!!!! I have never been to a Cirque de Soleil show, but Bobby has and said they are pretty much the same. That show really made me want a jump rope, and a trip to Vegas.
The crazy-ass contortionists were by far my favorite part of the show....they were dead on as lizards. It is completely bizarre what those tiny people can do to their bodies. It is as if they don't have bones in their bodies...absolutely crazy! Definitely worth seeing!!
The show lasted about 2 hours with one intermission.
We got home about 10:30p exhausted from our eventful night......and we still had to pack for our road trip across Texas......
~~~

The Great Urban Race - Oct 5

My sister almost has me & my husband talked into doing
The Great Urban Race with her & her husband this Sunday 10/5.
Shape Magazine describes it as "a one day version of The Amazing Race."
This actually appeals to me because in my life before the husband, I watched The Amazing Race among other reality shows such as Survivor, Big Brother, The Bachelor. However, since the husband hates reality shows, our Tivo only records the SciFi channel. great.

If you have ever watched The Amazing Race then you have an idea what the Great Urban Race is about...it's just a scaled down, 1 city version of The Amazing Race (which is world-wide).
At $60/person it does seem a little pricey....but it is approximately 4 hours worth of entertainment and the memories made from will most likely be priceless.
You have to sign up in 2 person teams, but they allow teams to work together. Teams can use any means available to them to solve puzzles, do challenges, and complete the race....laptops, blackberries, GPS, etc.
Check out the website and let me know if you are interested in joining in the adventure!
http://www.greaturbanrace.com/
~~~

ACL . . . . . . . I’m over it.

Hot, Glaring Sun

Sweat

Runny Sunscreen

Dirt stuck to Sweat & Sunscreen

Gum stuck to my shoe

ACL gunk stuck to the gum on my shoe

Dust in my eyes

Smokers

65,000 people all trying to see the same band

B.O.

Drunk Chicks

Annoying Dudes

People can’t aim….Pee all over the portapotties

Only roll of toilet paper on the floor of the portapotties in a puddle of Pee

Handle on the door broken off so nothing to hold onto while I squat

Nasty, Sick stuff in the portapotty that I can’t help but notice while I try to wipe & cover the seat

Barf. Gross.

Not enough Purell in the world.

Only Upside.....Free Vitamin Water at the Sponsor Tent :-)

Austin City Limits - Sept 26-28

Yes, I will be one of the 65,000 people attending ACL all 3 days at this year’s event. I can’t help but get caught up in the excitement of Austin’s biggest music event of the year.

Even though I am not a huge music person, every year I feel the buzz…and it’s contagious. In the weeks leading up to ACL it’s easy to run into people that are excited about it, and you can’t help but compare band schedules. Chances are good that someone else knows which bands to check out better than I do.

I usually start off the long weekend with a short, but decent list of bands that I will try to catch….nothing set in stone. Inevitably, I will hear buzz about a band and it will peak my curiosity enough to change my schedule.

Thankfully, I happen to be fortunate enough to have a nice hook-up to one of the stage tents where I can go to relax, cool down, drink, eat, and find a port-a-potty without a ridiculously long line. I’ll also be seeing lots of friends there so I look forward to the chance to catch up and see some people I hadn’t seen in a while.

Here is my list of bands so far…

Friday, September 26

12:50pm - 1:30pm Christopher Denny (Austin Ventures)

1:30pm - 2:30pm What Made Milwaukee Famous (AT&T blue room)

2:30pm - 3:30pm Vampire Weekend

3:30pm - 4:30pm Jamie Lidell (Dell)

4:30pm - 5:30pm Gogol Bordello (AT&T)

Saturday, September 27

12:30pm - 1:30pm Old 97's (AT&T)

4:30pm - 5:30pm Robert Earl Keen (AMD)

4:30pm - 5:30pm Erykah Badu (AT&T)

5:30pm - 6:30pm MGMT (AT&T blue room)

7:30pm - 8:15pm The Black Keys (AT&T blue room)

8:15pm - 9:30pm Robert Plant and Alison Krauss (AMD)

Sunday, September 28

1:30pm - 2:30pm The Kills (AT&T blue room)

6:30pm - 7:45pm The Raconteurs (AMD)

6:30pm - 7:15pm White Denim (Austin Ventures)

7:45pm - 8:30pm Tegan and Sara (AT&T blue room)

Let me know if you have any recommendations for me!

Complete 2008 ACL Schedule