A Refreshing Weekend

I am just not sure how it is already the middle of November. In fact, it is nearer to the end of November than it is to the beginning. There is only one week until I get to go home for Thanksgiving break, and after that, there is only one more week of class. Time really does fly!

Anyway, this past weekend my parents came up to Austin so that we could all go to the football game together. They went to Norman so that they could watch a game with Daniel, so I guess they felt like coming to Austin would be the fair thing to do. I thought it was going to be a really exciting game, but it turned out to be Mack Brown's worst career loss at home. We just couldn't get into a rhythm, and we couldn't seem to stop their quarterback from running the ball, so we were handed our first Big 12 loss of the season. So though the game wasn't very exciting, it was still a very fun day.

My parents got to my house around 11:30am, and we spent some time hanging around my house before heading out north to the Arboretum area to get lunch at a new-to-me restaurant, Z'Tejas. The very first Z'Tejas location was born right here in Austin, Texas, on our historic 6th Street, and there are now 11 locations open for business in the Western United States. It is a classified as a "southwestern grill," and it has a little bit of Tex-Mex, soup and salads, sandwiches, burgers, steak and seafood - so it really has a wide range of food from which to choose. We ordered some of the tableside guacamole, freshly made at your table, as the name implies, and I give it two thumbs up. I wasn't sure about some of the ingredients, but I couldn't stop eating it!

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For my main dish, I went for the Grilled Salmon and vegetables, and I ate nearly every last bite, despite being extremely full. The salmon was grilled to perfection, and the vegetables were sauteed in a way that I just can't seem to do myself!

My mom, after much back and forth, opted for the Avocado Turkey Burger, and a side of sweet potato fries (I helped her out with those), and my dad went for the Green Chili Barbacoa Enchiladas. Dylan joined us for lunch and the game, and he went for the Sante Fe Smoked Chicken Enchilada.

All of our plates were pretty near clean by the end of the meal, and we all agreed that it was a great meal filled with great company. After lunch, we headed back in the direction of campus, and made it to the game right on time. I should probably be ashamed to admit that this was my first football game to attend this season, and it was also my last home game as a student, as I probably won't be making the trip back to Austin for our Thanksgiving Day game. I'm bummed that it wasn't a better game, but the weather was great, and I am thankful for that time spent with my parents.

We left the game before it was over, and after getting stuck in quite a traffic jam leaving the stadium, I was back at my house, ready for a little bit of relaxation time. I was sad to send my parents back to Houston, but it was a little easier knowing that I would see them again in just a week.

Sunday was another busy one full of homework and YoungLife, but Dylan and I did take time to go to dinner together before our all-area meeting. We went to Mandola's Italian Market in the triangle, and though my grilled chicken salad was tasty, my strawberry gelato stole the show.

I think I even shocked Dylan a little bit when I ate a large chocolate chunk out of his mint chocolate chip gelato. I figured a little bit of dairy wouldn't hurt me, and those large chocolate chunks are my favorite!

And now it's back to the craziness of another week, but hopefully I will be better about updating y'all this round! Have a great Tuesday!