it's beginning to look a lot like christmas...?

as your intrepid reporter of all things austin, i feel it's my duty to share with you what christmas time looks like around here. as part of my case, i present you with two examples:

EXHIBIT A: THE OFFICE HOLIDAY PARTY
being the advertising whore that i am, the ingredients of a typical office holiday party generally include the following: a chilly night in a fairly chi-chi spot, an open bar, some hors d'oeuvres, maybe a DJ, lots of black clothes and slinky scarves and thin-stemmed martini glasses. people generally stay out late, gossip about what everyone else is wearing, meet each other's significant others, and eventually take a drunken cab ride home.

or, if you're in texas, the office holiday party looks something like this: afternoon party, 80-degree weather, huge pits of texas bbq, beer, live music, jeans, frito pie, mac and cheese, and deep fried turkey. if i had decided to wear heels (i didn't) they would have just sunk into the grass, and if i had decided to wear all black (i didn't) i would have melted in the 80-degree weather. you will be sad to know that our gingerbread house did not take home first prize (there were some amazing entries... stupid creative advertising types), but since we worked on our entry right next to the bbq pits, i got the special bonus prize of smelling like bbq for the rest of the day. even my hair smelled like bbq sauce, and i think that may have been responsible for all the drool on my pillow saturday morning. hmm.

EXHIBIT B: CHRISTMAS SHOPPING
sat afternoon i decided to finally get my shit together and start my christmas shopping (since it is, well, one week away). being in a thrifty mood, i headed down to the sarn marcos outlets, dreading the crowds and hoping for the best. let me tell you something: shopping for christmas presents in a huge concrete jungle with vast parking lots (in which every space is filled with some gas-guzzling SUV or truck, of course) while wearing flip-flops and a t-shirt because it is 80 BLOODY DEGREES OUTSIDE is a really, really strange experience. the christmas music being piped over the speakers seemed to be messing with my mind, seriously.

still, i'm not complaining. i went for a jog this evening along the trusty hike-and-bike trail on town lake wearing shorts and a t-shirt and smiled at all the dogs traipsing around the dog park and all my fellow joggers and bikers who were out soaking in the early evening sun, and i have to say...

i've got a feeling we're not in DC anymore...

...y'all.