Hello & happy, happy Monday!!! I spent the past few days in Austin, Texas to visit my cousins. My aunt, her maltese, my sister and I left Friday afternoon and drove back to Dallas yesterday. T'was pretty low-key and relaxing. Much needed. Though because I feel like basically all we do in there is eat--my family (myself included) is filled with food snobs--,it was anxiety-inducing on the ED front. But I felt I did a pretty good job of just living in the moment and coping with feelings of uncomfortable fullness. I also feel like I should have felt guiltier than I did for not being technically "productive." Basically, I felt guilty for not feeling guilty... Siiigh. These Kaylee problems.

In spite of this, or rather because of this, I'm sharing our adventures of the weekend through Meghan's awesome link-up that reminds me that even the things that aren't necessarily to-do list productive are still accomplishments. Family time, socialization, bonding, LIVING ≠ waste.

In chronological order, here's a high-level view of what went down:

Friday

• Quickly posted some link lovin' prior to leaving last Friday
• Made our way over to Austin with 0 nap for me, which is unusual, and for that I consider it an accomplishment 😉
• Feasted at a late night Ethiopian dinner. If you've never had Ethiopian cuisine, the typical base of any meal is injera, a sour-tasting flatbread made with teff flour. They served all our food communal style over the injera on a giant platter. Our bellies and souls left feeling really, really happy. 

Saturday

Post SUP sweat faces

• Spent the first part of the morning stand-up paddle boarding in the almost too hot summer sun
• Went for an early lunch at Dai Due, a butcher-shop style restaurant. Aside from our individually order dishes, we got the CenTex Mezze appetizer to share. Components included: marinated carrots, pecan sweet pepper spread, beet puree, among others. 

• Then we went for our first ice cream, err, gelato of the day. I split a small scoop with my aunt and got the fromage blanc & blueberry..
• After a round of showers at my cousins' place, we went house hunting, something we absolutely love to do. We even joke about going to random open houses in the neighborhoods but is it a joke really...In another life, I swear we would've been a family of house flippers not chemists. Unfortunately, however, while hopping from house to house we got caught in the random storms that stayed throughout the evening. 
• Then it was dinner time! We went to a Peruvian restaurant and I got the vegetarian platter that included all my favorites--corn, fried yucca and plantains!!! 😍

• Second ice cream of the day, an early celebration of Sunday's National Ice Cream Day. I convinced them to try Sweet Ritual, a vegan ice cream shop that was featured on Buzzfeed's best soft serve places in the US. Due to my unfortunate almond and peanut allergies, I got a scoop of the sunflower seed butter based dark chocolate chip, which was equally delicious. 
• Then it was time for evening games! We played Machi Koro, which we've been on a kick on for some time now. Didn't win but it was a close match towards the end. 

Sunday

• Squeezed in some homework before the rest of the clan got out of bed.
• Got our at Whole Foods' 365 concept in Austin. There was a local bakery/beer place & juicery inside where we grabbed brunch as our final meal before heading out. 
• FINALLY FINALLY FINALLY finished Tender is the Night, this month's book club pick that has taken me much longer than normal. Learning more and more that maybe I'm not meant for these "classic" novels.. 
• After getting back from the road trip back home, I joined my parents for our last musical of this season: Finding Neverland! A semi-biographical story of JM Barrie and the Davies, the family that ultimately inspired the character of Peter Pan, it made me remember how much I miss being a kid and playing make believe. It's heartbreaking to come to that realization. On a positive note, the choreography and set were both stunning!