This is not a furniture makeover

Its more like a dumpster diving cleaning, repainting, and re-purposing story.  We've been talking about getting a small metal table to use out in the yard at Highlands.  Something we could set our phones and drinks on, since the chaise loungers don't have a spot for setting things.

 As luck would have it, we saw this metal table by the side of the road as we were pulling out of a restaurant.  I made Hubby circle around and pick it up!

It was rusted and banged up and looked almost like it had creosote or somesuch caked all over it.  In short, it was a mess. But, redeemable.

After I used a metal brush to "sand" all of the crud off, I gave it a few coats of all the leftover dibs and dabs of black spray paint we had at Highlands.  Don't worry - there was at least one can that had primer built into it.

Its never going to win any prizes, but it cleaned up OK.  

It cost me zero dollars total.

And it will definitely work for its intended purpose. 

Gina 

Empty Nest Menu #60

Monday - Chicken Rio for Tacos with cheese, avocado, tomato {order produce box}

Tuesday - Tuna Salad Bowls with romaine, tomato, green onion, white kidney beans, feta, vinaigrette {pay bills}

Wednesday - Farro and Sausage Skillet with corn, onions, peppers

Thursday - Baked Meatballs, green beans

Friday - Pastor Chicken Thighs, carrots, maybe a twice baked

Saturday - Free Choice {Sol Vinum release at Save The World}

Sunday - Classic Shrimp Rolls, low salt chips {picnic lunch at Perissos for wine club pick-up}

Gina

5 thing Friday {anniversary version} - eating, church, jewelry, sight seeing, sunsets

Going back to work after our Austin Anniversary Staycation was hard.  And partly because we weren't going to be eating like this for the rest of the week:

Breakfast at Juan in a Million in Austin

Lunch at Young's BBQ in Lampasas

Pizza at 600 Degrees in Georgetown

Seafood at Deckhands in Austin

Not to mention, a fancy buffet lunch, picnic at Mt. Bonnell, dinner at home, and plenty of beer!

It was what a vacation should be - fun and relaxing.  We even spent time listening to live music and meeting new people. And yes, he won most of the card games we played!

One of the highlights of the weekend was getting to go to a service at the church we were married in.  I experienced a flood of memories - even small details.  We reminisced about it all day.

The front of the church is flanked by huge trees that were very small 35 years ago.  Of course we recognized no one - both priests were long gone, as well as many of the regulars. - after all, its been 35 years  The new normal for churches must be very strange, but we were warmly welcomed and they printed a sweet anniversary prayer for us in the program.

I bought a cute new dress and had Hubby take a new headshot for me.  Just afterwards he gifted me with these:

Beautiful jade drop earrings! 

 I gave him a jade bracelet just before we left to enjoy our picnic, and he was thrilled with it.  Hubby likes bling.

We spent lots of time walking all that food off at Mt. Bonnell and Zilker Gardens in downtown Austin.

You can tell Fall is here, even if it feels like late summer.  The sunsets are more dramatic and come a little bit earlier.  A minute later getting out of work and I would miss it!  In fact, the timing of the sunset figured prominently in our wedding service.  Its only fitting that we enjoy them so much now.

Gina

Tourist in our town - revisiting Zilker Gardens

I have not been to Zilker Gardens in Austin since Spring of 2013 when I took the boys.  (I wrote about it here, too.) And Hubby and I have not been there together since we first moved to Austin.  So it seemed fitting that while we were trippin' down memory lane for our staycation anniversary that we would make this one of our stops.  Its an enchanting place! And we spent an entire hour walking over as much of it as our old legs could carry us...

Maybe it isn't, but it kind of felt like the last time we would visit this particular place.  So it was almost like fixing it into my memory in place of the one from so many years ago.  The entire garden has grown yet still retains the feel of a secret place smack dab in the middle of Austin.  

Gina

Empty Nest Menu #59

We had a great weekend eating all of the things!

Monday - Anniversary dinner OUT {Happy Hour on the fly}

Tuesday - Salmon, green beans with garlic {start walking in the mornings}

Wednesday - Pinto Bean Soup with green onion and avocado, garlic bread

Thursday - Adobo Pork Chop, butternut squash

Friday - Chicken and Bacon BBQ Cubes, sweet potato

Saturday - TBD {work on projects at Camp Rustown}

Sunday - Polenta with peppers, onions, and marinara, broccoli

Gina

Weekend re-cap: putseying at Highlands

 It was a very low key weekend that started out with tacos and yardwork at Camp Rustown. {yes, I  grated cheese directly on the table}  I figured it would be easier to order the tacos on-line, then drive over there and have them place them in my front seat.  But when I called the number posted at the parking space, they told me to drive thru.  I could've just done that to begin with! Note to future self: make your own tacos.

We kept the adult drinking down to a minimum this weekend, but I did enjoy a lemon Pellegrino with frozen strawberries and splash of gin.  It was cool and refreshing - the weekend weather was just regular old summer heat.  We headed over to Save The World with our late lunch after picking up a few things at the bustling Marble Falls Wally World. 

We took our beer to go and later we enjoyed it during the cool of the evening at Highlands while Hubby made a chicken and potato Dutch oven dinner.  Everything seems greener at the end of the summer when we get so much rain.

We played cards until bedtime, and both of us were so tired. Since we had put some carpet down in the barn, we slept on the cots in there to see how comfortable it would be for guests.  The A/C kept it nice and cool and the cots are OK, we just need new pillows.  It was a nice Saturday.

The next day I cut Hubby's hair, he trimmed some trees, we finally got the swing repainted and on solid ground.

We took four of the pavers from up at the barn and gave the swing feet a solid surface to rest on.  We had to sink a couple of them further down to get it to hang level and we spray painted it first since it had some rust here and there.  We also cut back some evil stick cactus that was a little too close for comfort.  This swing is over 20 years old.

It sits a little lower on this particular hill, but still has a pretty sweet view.

And after we admired it a bit, it was time to head back home.  This week promises some cooler weather and we have a wedding anniversary coming up! 

Gina

5 thing Friday - smoky sunset, weeds, work friends, views, change

The smoke from fires in California made for an interesting sunset last Saturday.  A pink sky and a tiny orange pink sun.  Pretty, but so ominous.

In the foreground of the above pic you can just make out these flowers.  They are Septic Weed (Senna Occidentalis).  Ugly name, pretty flowers.  They are all over Highlands as we have had a wet end to our summer in Central Texas.

I have known a woman for years who is one of those people that you either like or don't like, and I felt  both ways as we had a tricky relationship at work. We came to an understanding eventually, and she emails me occasionally.  Its nice to be on the other side of all that work drama.  So when I saw her lunch kit in the window at work,  I froze for a moment!  I sent her a pic of it and she laughed, wondering what had happened to it.  Someone is using it!

The scene from the top of the parking garage.  I am treated to various degrees of beautiful skies at the end of my workday, and for that I am grateful.  Particularly as I can now use the elevator so I park allthewayatthetop just to catch the views.

I planted a tiny thumb of a cactus from Highlands in a pretty pot for another work friend who is leaving.  (and there's a pretty sparkly rock there that will look more to scale as the cactus grows) I feel like that was more sentimental than anything I could buy.  A piece of my future home to a spot in her future home.   Its hard to say goodbye to even casual work friends, and all around me seems to be change and more change.  I feel like I'm still here, and all of them are leaving.

Gina