Spurs WIN!

We had a great time at the San Antonio Spurs game on Wednesday. Final score: San Antonio Spurs 128, Orlando Magic 110 - GO SPURS. The drive from Austin to the AT&T Center (Home of the Spurs) is only about 1.5 hours.
Here is a YouTube of this gal that performed in the half-time show. Her name is Krystal Liu, of the Red Panda Acrobats on Unicycle. She is AWESOME - quite amazing. This video clip from YouTube is from a different day but it is the exact same show that we saw her do at the Spurs game in San Antonio. Love the music too!


We make a 2 day trip of it and spend a couple nights on the Riverwalk. If you like to shop, stay at the Marriott Rivercenter which is attached to the Rivercenter Mall. This hotel was closed for renovations this year so we stayed just across the street at the Marriott Riverwalk, not nearly as glamorous as the Marriott Rivercenter - but still nice. We enjoyed our holiday feast at the Hyatt, also right on the Riverwalk. Many of the hotels put out a GREAT buffet for Thanksgiving, go with a huge appetite. The Rivercenter mall was closed on Thursday but lots of people were out walking about and the movie theatre in the mall is open all day and night.
If you stay through Friday you can see the holiday lighting ceremony on the Riverwalk. The town completely fills up by Friday so plan well ahead if you expect to find a hotel on the Riverwalk. Any day would be a great day to experience the San Antonio Riverwalk - but Thanksgiving weekend is extra special!

Antone's Record Shop

We checked out Antone's Record Shop Friday night, a really cool record shop on Guadalupe. They stay open until 10:00 pm and we spent quite a bit of time there - SO much to discover. They have a HUGE variety of music - mostly 45s & LPs which
is what we were looking for. My all-time favorite music is from the 60's & 70's and Antone's has it all. Just seeing the old record labels and album covers was a thrill You can choose the records and take them to the back where they have a record player so you can listen to them before buying. Great prices!! Here's what we bought Friday on 45s, each record was about $1.95 : (I'm sure we'll return for more!)

. Steely dan- "only a fool would say that" + "reeling in the years"
. Petula clark- "kiss me goodbye" + "downtown"
. Lee morgan- "sweet honey bee" + "hey chico"
. Ahmad Jamal "music, music, music" + "poinciana"

The store is on the UT college shopping strip area. They also have an on-line store. Take a walk down memory lane!
Visit their website for directions to the Austin store.

Antone's Record Shop

Westwood High School Band

Tonight was the final game of the season. Westwood High School has such a great band! Tonight they performed a patriotic salute to our servicemen.

Above is a YouTube video of Westwood's show performance for 2007 - titled Oriental Sketches.

Above is another YouTube video of their Halloween Performance at the game last weekend.

Lifetime Fitness Club

Click the Lifetime Fitness logo to get a free pass. This is a really cool place to work out in Austin. They have everything you need and more. I've been a member for about a year. There are 2 locations now in Austin, one on 620 & Parmer in NW Austin, and the newest at the South end of town just off Mopac. They have the TV screens all around so you can use all of the equipment and catch up on the news or watch music videos. They have lots of classes, swimming pools, rock climbing, basket ball courts - on and on. Visit their website to find out all the details and use the free pass. I tried several other clubs before I decided on joining this one. I'm really happy working out there!

YUMMY TREATS

Edible Arrangements! This yummy edible arrangement was delivered to my door today. What a WONDERFUL surprise - thanks Kim!! The fruit was super fresh and it looked so pretty I hated to tear it down and eat it. Couldn't resist the chocolate though. The best part was the chocolate covered apples and the chocolate covered strawberries!! Here is the store in Austin that this particular Edible Arrangement came from - Great Hills Station Edible Arrangements

Something different

Ruta Maya Coffee House

There is always another place in Austin to be discovered. This was my first time at the Ruta Maya Coffee House, located on South Congress about 3 miles south of the downtown area. (I've lived here 12 years) My daughter and her friend had a school assignment for their speech class which involved critiquing. I did see this guy in the picture there - he must be a regular. Tuesday nights are open mic night for poets from 6:00 to 9:00, we were there for this. Would have liked to stay the 9:00 to midnight for the open mic music - another time I guess. We listened to about 9 or 10 different poets. If you have some poetry that you want to share, you simply put your name on the sign-up sheet and you'll have your time on stage. Now, my simple mind didn't understand 90 percent of what was said but I still enjoyed it. I highly recommend you experience Tuesday night at Ruta Maya - something different!