Category: Out & About

The Benford Christmas and The Queen

Christmas with my family was great! As tradition holds, we went to the Four Seasons for a wonderful brunch. I got there before my parents and sister so they seated me and immediately offered me champagne. Gotta love a classy hotel!! Once my family got there, we hit the buffet. The buffet was quite extensive with a variety of salads, hot dishes, a carving station and in the center was a wonderful seafood station with shrimp, crab legs, bagel & lox, and some yummy sushi. Once we thought we were full, we headed to the dessert bar. Most everything was the same as years past and very rich but my sister and I discovered the strawberry & Grande Marnier tartlet. OH, SO YUMMY!!! I could have had those all afternoon!! While I was perusing the dessert bar, there was a cute little boy, about 4 years old, waiting with his family to be seated. While he waited, he looked over the dessert bar while I stood deciding what I was going to nibble on. He came over and his dad would pull him back to where they were waiting. This happened two more times and when he came over the final time, I offered him a blueberry off one of my desserts and he was happy. He went back to his family and they were seated. It’s amazing, the power of blueberries…. 😉

After our wonderful dining experience, we headed back to my parent’s house and hung out for a while. My sister went to visit some of her friends and my parents and I went to see The Queen. It’s about The Queen of England as she and her family experienced the death of Princess Diana in 1997. Of course, they discussed how the public and press depicted the Queen as being insensitive to the ordeal since Diana & Charles had divorced a year earlier. In this movie, you sepoite it all from the Queen and her family’s point of view. Excellent acting but I wish the storyline would have not centered around the Diana incident. I’m really starting to get upset by how the media won’t let her rest in peace. Anywho, it’s a good movie and if it’s playing in your town, you should try to see it. 4 out of 5 stars.

Trail of Lights Trip

Since the start of Season 3, a group of great girls and I have gotten together every Thursday to eat, drink and drool over McDreamy and McSteamy on Grey’s Anatomy. Even during a refun, we’d still get together and gab it up or just watch a movie. This past Thursday, we got together to go see the Trail of Lights at Zilker park. We even let guys come with us! Unfortunately, we were missing Stacy and we’ll have to do this again next year with what will be her new baby! It was hours of lights, fun and “Where are Sarah and Steve??”… Afterwards, we went to Opal Devine’s for some good food and even more laughter (Conjoined girl twins having sex…)
Here are some pics of the Trail:

Waiting in line for the bus:

Unicorns on a bus!!:

Where the Wild Things Are:

Peanuts:

Here’s Nemo:

Musical Armadillos:

Hey, Diddle Diddle:

Drunk Penguins – I dont’ know if their feet are happy but their stomachs seem to be:

Keepin’ warm by the Yule Log:

Seeing stars:

Spinning under the big tree:

There was also a very cool display that syncronized music with lights. It’s hard to hear the music on this little video but it’s “Linus and Lucy” from A Charlie Brown Christmas.

http://bigbenford.com/v-web/gallery/albums/TrailOfLights/MVI_0484.avi

All caught up!

My car is all caught up on being legal. I got my inspection done (it was 6 months out of date…oops!), new registration tags and even new plates. It was time for new plates so I figured while I was getting new ones, I’d get plates that support arts in Texas. I pay $30 extra a year and $22 goes towards arts education and promotion in our state. So essentially, somehow, the money comes back to what I do. I’m kind of bummed that I had to take my Southwest Texas State University Alumni plate frame off because it covers the State of the Arts slogan but since those plate frame are technically illegal (it also covers the word Texas), I guess I’m better off for it.

The other thing I did recently is get my TxTag. I live just off the new toll roads (both 45 and 130) so although I may not use them daily, I’ll definitely jump on one or another periodically. What I’m loving is that through January, tolls are free to TxTag holders and 1/2 price in February!! Once February passes, the prices will be 10% off cash rates for all TxTag holders at any tollway in Texas. Like I said before, I’m not planning on using them daily so I think my initial $20 will last for quite sometime. If you live in the Austin area and want your TxTag, I think it’s still free before the New Year. After that, you’ll have to pay an initial $10 (give or take) to get your tag.

I guess that’s it for promoting Texas stuff. The only other thing I need to do is join the Blanton museum.

Thanksgiving, Christmas prep & Happy Feet!!

Well, quite a bit has happened in the last few days. It’s been a nice time off and tomorrow, I have to wrap it up for the last few weeks of school before the Christmas Holidays Winter Break.

First, Thanksgiving. I spent most of Wednesday cleaning like crazy. I did a pretty good job on the common areas. Didn’t really get to my room or office but that was okay. Thursday, we all gathered at my house and had a wonderful time. Lots of food, lots of drink, lots of people. At one point, I had a glass of wine and a glass of champagne in front of me and bottles still being passed around the table. Ah yes, a family that can drink together, stays together (~as said by Naomi). Click on the picture on the left to see all the others. Oh, my mom did cook and bring the turkey. That’s why it’s in the laundry basket. (In case you were wondering.)

So, on Friday, I decided to decorate the house for Christmas. I didn’t have a tree and I had seen one at Target the other day so I went and got it and a few other things. The lines weren’t really that bad(!!) and the tree (pre-lit) was under $100(!!). I got some other lights but they’re not working. I hope it’s just a fuse because they’re very cute and already hanging. I forgot to check the lights before I hung them…bad me. They were also the last set on the shelf. Maybe another Target will have another set of them. If you click on the picture on the right, you’ll see more pics of the tree. I’ve got quite a bit more to put up and I’ll post those pics as I decorate more.

Today, I went to see Happy Feet at the IMAX theater. I have been waiting to see this since Kelly mentioned it in his blog last Spring! In case you haven’t been to Austin in a while, the next time you come to Austin, you’ll find a Texas History Museum next to UT and an IMAX theater inside the museum. It was a sold out show and I didn’t have tickets BUT, I had called yesterday to make reservations. The girl I talked to totally screwed up and didn’t bother to sell me any…but made me think I was on a “list” or something. So, we drove down there and found the show sold out but I explained my predicament to the girl at the Members counter (I’m a member of the museum, you see; hence the reservation thing – we get a discount on tickets). She somehow found 6 tickets and the Sedatole clan and I got to see the movie!! It was very cute but the ending had an odd twist, I thought. The cinematography and attention to detail was fantastic. Probably even more realistic than most animated movies I’ve seen lately (including Monsters, Inc. which did an awesome job of making the fur and details of the characters seem so real). I’d recommend seeing it just for that! 3 1/2 out of 5 stars.

Oh, Mumble’s eyes are just as blue as Elijah Wood’s eyes. So cool!!

Tonight, I’m meeting my buddy Greg for a little Blue October. What a great break!!