Just Married

An ending and a new beginning, both of the year, and of this couple's single and married life.

More art and another bird

Hi everyone! Sorry about not posting for a while. With the holidays on us all and travels here and there, our posting fell behind. We still had a few visitors so thank you for coming back to check us out!

This is another art piece that has been donated to the library. It now sits in the lobby at the Central Library building downtown. It's a non-traditional holiday tree but I think of it as a tower. I like the cut paper designs and the light inside (though you can't fully appreciate the lighting affect since the lobby is always so lit up). I don't really understand the bird on top. And no, that is not a real bird though it's fooled many people. I wish there was a star on top or something else maybe. The bird just doesn't do it for me.

Click here for a close-up of the top.

The Birds!

When we leave the library and go south on Main, we pass the artpace gallery and I just love the place. Currently, this is the exhibit and I haven't gone in so I don't know any information about the artist or work. But I think it's pretty cool looking.

To see a different view and have a closer look click here.

Happy Tummy

This afternoon Mark and I went to Saigon Express on McCollough. I have heard several people say they've been there and of course people always ask me about it and since I had not been, I couldn't tell them anything.

I was turned off by their not-so-attractive exterior but we took the plunge and went inside. I thougth this was a nice little alter for good luck and continued blessings for the business. You see these alters in some restaurants, Chinese, Vietnamese and Thai I've noticed. Many are not this nice so I snapped a shot.

Oh right, the food. Pretty darn yummy gang. We need to go as a group to see what you think. I had the equivalent of the Noodle House P31 (grilled pork with shrimp on vermicelli and fresh vegetables) and Mark had the lunch special sweet and sour chicken. Both were very delicious. I was particularly impressed by the freshness of the veggies. We also had an order of summer rolls (the fresh ones) and it was very good though a bit heavy on the veggies. The menu also included quite a number of vegetarian dishes. Two thumbs up on the food. Decor could use a little work.

Basketball Season

Thien mentioned going to a Spurs game and combined with college basketball there are always games to watch and keep track of.

I never was a big basketball fan until I went to Indiana University (a HUGE basketball school) and until I moved to San Antonio (a HUGE basketball city...since that is our only major league team!).

In the photo I was watching Duke play Indiana at a favorite sports bar, Fox and Hound.

Spurs Time!

My husband and I love the Spurs (even when they lose when they SHOULDN'T) and we get to go once in a while the AT&T Center. Last Friday night we saw the Spurs beat up the Clippers, very cool. That night was cold and drizzly, which seemed to slow people down in getting to the game as you can tell by the empty seats as the game started. By the end of the first quarter, we were full.

Some people complain that the Center is not very nice but we think it is actually quite a huge improvement over watching a game at the Alamodome, which was built for an NFL team, not NBA. There's just something about seeing in a game in person that is so exciting!

Have a great weekend!

Hi everyone, we saw this sign as we sat at a red light. It made me smile and I thought it was a nice sentiment. Everyone have a great weekend. I will probably not post until Monday. Not sure if the girls will be able to either. Tonight we go to the Spurs game and tomorrow we travel to visit family in Austin, north of here. Christmas season is here so it's off to two parties tomorrow night. Who knows, there might be some opportunities for DP photos. We'll see.

Northstar Mall

Lots of shopping going on around town. I'm almost done with mine but had to run to Northstar for a gift pick up. This is my favorite mall though there are several big malls in town, and now there are even shopping destinations like La Cantera and the Forum.

Northstar is located centrally so it's easy for most people to get to which means lots of congestion around this time of year. I don't even bother driving in that area Friday, Saturday and Sunday. CRAZINESS over there.

If you want a closer look at the famous boots, check out this shot. The boots recently got a cleaning, translation: a new paint job. It even made the news two nights in a row, that's how interested people are in those boots. Kind of funny. You will also notice there is a banner hung up with the boots. This refers to Tony Parker, of Spurs fame, and his gal Eva Longoria, yes, of Desperate Housewives fame. They just got engaged a couple of weeks ago. People are crazy for news of them. For the record, MY favorite player is Tim Duncan but I did want to post what's going on with other San Antonians.

Parking Meter Lamp

Yesterday's errand to get a parking card for Sonia turned into a photo opportunity when we got to the parking division office! Check out this funny lamp we saw. It would have been really funny if you have to insert coins in order to power up the lamp!

After this, the drive back was super adventurous (a bit of a scare) and we are still a little jumpy from it. Picture those Volkswagon commercials, you know, where the friends are talking and all of a sudden, bam! They get hit by another vehicle. It was like that for us but thankfully no contact was made. There wereloud brakes screeching and smoke from the tires. But we lived to write about it.

Friday Lunch

We were both off today, and had an errand to run, so I met up with Thien at the FireBowl cafe in the Quarry that Thien posted about a few days ago. I love their decorations on the wall, and they have added some fun Christmas decorations as well. I love at this place, you can pick your own veggies from a salad bar type area to include in your rice or noodle dish!

Alamodome

Taken out front of the Alamodome, where the NBA team Spurs used to play. Now it plays host to football bowl games, conferences, NCAA playoffs, and other events. It is also where we went recently for our city health fair!

Quarry Cinema

Sarah posted a shot of Quarry Market before. This is the theatre that is located there. It's two stories and in a great location for before or after shopping (Pottery Barn, Gap, Hallmark, etc.), dining (EZ's, PF Chang's, Alexanders, etc.), book browsing (Borders) or dessert (Amy's Ice Creams)!

Sun Rays

Another beautiful morning in SA and Seguin as well. Lately we have had the greatest weather. Cold at night, in the 30s and 40s, and then a lovely 70-80 during the day, no humidity. For South Texas, this is like heaven! To me anyway.

The sky was so clear on this morning and as I watched the sunrise, I caught these rays. Thought it looked pretty neat.

Tomorrow the library closes for a couple of days for everyone to eat, shop and decorate. In my case, I will eat and rest. Hope you all have a wonderful holiday. We'll try to post when possible.

Shiloh

I saw this yesterday on my way to Knit Nite. I thought it was funny because I thought of Angelie Jolie and her new baby. I do like the style of it though.

edit: Sunday, August 12, 2007
I'm still not sure about the story behind Shiloh, but I went there recently and the text seemed to have been painted over.

Knit Nite @ Ruta Maya's

Here's a lefty teaching another lefty how to knit.

Piñatas

I pass by this building everyday on the way to drop my nephew off at school. It's on the westside of San Antonio, Couples St. I think. I like the look of the painted lady—she always makes me think of an anime chickie.

Downtown Building

I snapped this building because I was struck by all the different bar styles or grills on such a small building. This is just a block south of the Central Library on Soledad. I kind of like it even with all its funny "textures."

Golden Parachute

I love the way this looks. I think the net is there to keep bird droppings and such off library patron heads, but I liked what the shadows and light created.

Hey Ladies...

I just had to post this picture when I saw how red this clown's hair had turned out. He was in the vanguard of the Veteran's parade. I think he was with the Shriner's.

Veteran's Day Parade

I came into town to do some work while my sister was at some thingie or other. I was lucky enough to be able to catch some of the Veteran's Parade. I walked along with them to the stopping point, snapping pictures along the way. I was in a bit of a quandry about which one to post, but I like the waving flags, the color guard and the crowd in this shot, so this is what you all got.

A big THANK YOU and MUCHAS GRACIAS to all veterans out there.

Jellyfish

Taken by my husband at SeaWorld.

I guess most people don't think of San Antonio as a tourist destination, but we are a large conference city. There is a SeaWorld in Orlando, San Diego and here.

Mini Pineapple

This is the cutest little thing I've seen lately and it cracked me up. We went to Central Market again on Broadway. Hope everyone has a great weekend. We are closed tomorrow here at the SA Public Library so I will not be posting since my connection is very slow at home.

Funny Sight to See

I am not sure what this building is but I just had to have a shot. Didn't have time to stop and find out. You should have seen the movement of the truck as my friend tried to pull over after I yelled oh please stop by there so I can shoot that! I do that a lot now. I wish I could win the lottery, quit my job, craft and travel around SA for shots. ;)

Graffiti

I was at a stoplight and I thought this was a funny site I was seeing. It looked as if the young man was showing off some of the artwork. Maybe he was the artist? I'm not sure. They strolled up and down the wall, stopping to gaze and discuss. This wall has been the home of some of the nicest graffiti art in town. One artist's work was featured in a Pepsi commercial several years ago.

No Entrance

We were coming back from lunch when we saw the fire truck pausing in front of the library. I was like heck, I bet we're not going to get a chance to go in, and we didn't. It wasn't too long of a wait, as it's been in the past, but I had to tote around my lunch until we got a chance to go in.

SA Zoo

I went to the Zoo yesterday as part of the City of SA's celebration for employees celebrating their 5, 10 or 15 anniversary of service. Hard to believe I've been here so long already (really 11.3 years, don't ask me why it takes a year of planning before I got to celebrate).

I'm from North Carolina and we have a state zoo there, which is different from SA, which is a city zoo. Here the zoo is in town and so land is limited though the zoo is a decent size. In NC, it was set out in a rural area in the center of the state (pretty much) and so there was a lot of room for the zoo and animals to spread out. Just a little difference I noticed.

Don't know who this couple is but they had a lot of fun with the snake folks. I did not touch it. FYI. More zoo pics here -- SA Zoo.

Westside Tree

We were at my sisters mother-in-law's house having a yard sale this day. I would have rather been at the airshow, but since the base isn't too far from here I still got to experience some of it. We got to see a good look at a stealth fighter.

Anyway I took this pic because I love this tree. It reminds me of a tree we had in the backyard when I was growing up. I don't know if it's the same kind of tree, but I get the same kind of feeling from it.

H.E.B. Central Market

I feel like a kid in a candy store when I go to the Gucci H.E.B. (AKA H.E.B. Central Market on Broadway). Look at all the selection of food and that's just the center aisle. To the left of this was the asian and sandwhich ordering stations. To the right was the meals packed and ready to go, to the front was more asian foods, also nicely packaged and ready to go.

I got a medly of asian food to go: sweet and sour pork—minus the sauce, a spring roll (fried) and some summer rolls (not fried).

The blurry image to the front of the pic is a woman in fatigues. There was a lot of soldiers about that day, I reckon because Fort Sam Houston is not too far from it.

Cruising

Sorry this took so long to post, I had computer problems. As some of you might know, I recently got married and we went on a cruise for our honeymoon. It was so much fun! We visited Montego Bay, Jamaica; Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands; and Cozumel, Mexico. In each location we did a lot of snorkeling, but our favorite was here in the Cayman Islands where we got to swim with the stingrays. It was awesome, I know everyone is like, "how scary, especially after the Steve Irwin thing," but it wasn't like that. There was a lot of us and no one got hurt. The stingrays were so big and they felt weird. They just swam around our legs. It was super cool!

Dry Ice

Yep, that's ice she's holding but luckily she did not get a freeze burn. October/November means it's party time in SA. Actually, when is it not party time here? Let's see, Halloween, All Saints Day, All Souls, Veteran's Day and then we roll into Christmas season. Wow.

It was a bit warm in SA this week so the ice did not last long though long enough to chill the punch.

Where did you get your hat dear?

At work we had a staff social today. Lots of fun and lots of food.

Halloween Cakes

I love these cakes! The details on them were amazing. And how fun to see them. I can't decide my favorite, either the mummy or the hairy black/blue monstor. Sorry the ghost was blocked.

This was at the Central Market HEB. This market is an upscale version of a very popular grocery chain here in Texas and it's one of the nation's largest independent food retailers. HEB stands for Howard E. Butt.

San Antonio Botanic Gardens

Tim and I took advantage of the almost fall like gorgeous weather and took a trip to the San Antonio Botanic Gardens today. Not exactly bloom season, but nice nonetheless.

Empire Theatre & CNN

Had to stay in town late last night and as we cut through downtown to get to IH10, I really liked all the lights of the night. I rarely go down St. Mary's in the evening due to congestion on the one-way streets but I'm glad I did last night. We got to see the Empire Theatre all lit up for a show CNN was hosting there. It was about the borders and immigration. Highlights on the news showed it was a heated debate at times. It is one of many town hall meetings CNN has set up across the country. Maybe you have one coming or came already?

Avenida de Guadalupe

One more shot of another building in the Guadalupe neighborhood. I just love the vibrant colors here. This is an office building.

Virgin of Guadalupe

Had to go to a meeting in the Avenida Guadalupe Neighborhood, on the west side of downtown SA. I was treated to lots of colorful and fun architecture. This is a shot of one of the buildings I spotted. I won't attempt to explain the history and meaning of Our Lady of Guadalupe, sometimes known as Virgin of Guadalupe. As you can see by the size of this work, it is quite a tribute to her.

If you are interested, visit Wiki for more information.

Sunrise

Sunrise as Mark and I walked out the door this morning. It was gorgeous. We finally have cool temps and I had to wear a jacket! (47F woo hoo!)

Aluminated Art

This is an artpiece hanging at the Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center. I didn't realize it was all soda cans until I got close to it.

Alamo Fiesta

This is one of my all-time favorite stores in Texas. It's 5 minutes north of Central Library and they've always got some really neat merchandise displayed seasonally. Currently it's the season for Halloween and Days of the Dead celebrations hence all the pumpkins, skeletons and so on.

The pinatas are wonderful -- well made, reasonably priced and often hilarious. I see a bat, Casper the Friendly Ghost and a witch. When it's Spurs playoffs, you start seeing basketballs and popular players (yes, as pinatas).

One day I'll try and get some pics of the inside. It's filled with goodies from Mexico. Dolls, clothing, ceramic and popular tin decorations, pottery and more traditional pinatas. If you're in the area, definitely check this place out!

City Hall - Plaza de Armas

This is the front entrance of our City Hall where most of our city leaders have offices -- City Manager and all her assistant city managers and deputy city managers, council members and all their assistants and the mayor and all his assistants. Lots of assistants around there. Oh, and I believe some other city employees. It looks great from the outside but when I went inside for a meeting upstairs, there's a restaurant in the basement and since the center is open all the way up through the 2nd floor, it was sweltering from all the cooking I guess.

San Fernando Revisited

Haven't gotten out a lot for more pics so I am posting another from my trip to San Fernando. I just really liked the candles.

Funky hand-dryer

Not that I often take photos of bathrooms but these hand-dryers were so interesting to me. I have never seen any so vibrant. They startled me and made me laugh. Anyway, here's some organge in honor of pumpkins and Halloween this month.

Inside San Fernando

This morning I had to get a new badge for work so I walked back from City Hall Annex to Central Library. Took some nice shots I will post over time. This is the inside of San Fernando (which I shot in September).

More Tower

So this is one of the shots I snapped when we went to the top of the Tower Sarah and Shorty posted about yesterday. Can you see the Friendship Torch and the Enchilada Central Library? Click on the picture to go to Flickr and see notes of the location.

Tower of Americas

Built in 1968 for the World's Fair, the Tower of Americas stands over San Antonio, sitting in HemisFair Park. The Tower is 750 feet tall (228.6 meters) which makes it 87 feet (26 m) taller than the more famous Space Needle in Seattle!

The Tower of Americas was in pretty bad disrepair, but was recently bought by Landry's who have done restoration on the inside and opened a new restaurant on the second level of the observation deck. We were all recently there for a work event.

Storm Trooper and a Shadow

Taken outside the parking garage at the library. This type of stencil graffiti seems to be pretty popular these days.

Remember the Alamo?

Obligatory tourist photo. Other than the riverwalk, the Alamo is San Antonio's most famous destination. Most of the other missions are pretty far from the city center, the Alamo is tucked right in the middle of downtown, which makes it very popular. The gardens behind the Alamo are quite lovely.

The unique silhouette of the roof line is very popular here for advertisements and store logos. San Antonio also has many businesses that start with Alamo City (...Plumbing...Roofing...etc.), Alamo Area or just Alamo.

Touristas

Its Friday evening, and all the touristas are out on the Riverwalk. You can take a river cruise or sit at a table under an umbrella riverside at many of the restaurants that line this particular area of the river. Of course it also can get quite lovely and rowdy late at night.