Something you should know about Austria

If you are in Salzburg around Christmas time, and you hear bells jingling and see antlers from just above the crowd -- don't assume that Santa is coming with his reindeer. It could also be terrifying troll demons coming to say hello to the children.

We're still not exactly sure what was going on, but we were there on Winter Soltice, and our waitress later that night told us that it is tradition for these 'characters' to come and scare away the bad ghosts of the year past for the children. If you are a good child you have nothing to be scared of and you are happy to see these guys. If you are a bad child, they will beat you.

Either way I did not want one of these guys anywhere near me!

Best Christmas present ever

For Christmas Mum and Dad sent the four of us to the Christmas Market in Salzburg. (It was VERY cold, and all clothing decisions should be viewed in that light!)

We got pretty ornaments at the Christmas markets.

Listened to triangle guitars (that's the technical term).
Hiked up to the mountain to tour the castle.

Walked down tiny cobble stone streets next to buildings built into the mountain.
And ate....and ate....and ate

Then it got dark and we did it all again!

HELP!!

We have rotten wood siding that needs to be replaced. Once that is taken care of our house will need to be repainted -- which means we need to pick a color. We'd like to improve on the current color scheme (the trim is too yellow and the green is too blue - its complicated). BUT, picking paint colors is not something we've excelled at in the past. I could continue with the hyperlinks, but you get the idea.

Here's some options from other houses in our neighborhood -- please please let us know what you think!

One

Two

Three

Four

Five

Six

this is how much snow it takes to get school cancelled in houston

Another project

I don't appear to ever learn my lesson: Painting furniture...painting walls...home projects in general are never as fun or as easy as you think they are going to be!

So here's my latest:

Vacation FAIL

On Friday I got an email advertising the most amazing last minute deal to Rio you've ever seen. It was cheaper than our last trip Utah. It was the kind of deal you just don't say no to.

So at 5pm on Friday we decided to go to Rio - on Saturday. We told everyone at work. We bought tickets. I went to the store and bought sunscreen and snacks for the plane ride.

Then just as I was cancelling all of our weekend plans, TJ remembered an article he'd read that talked about needing a visa to go to Brazil. And just like that - our vacation was over.

So we spent Friday night at a Churrascaria, and we didn't spend the weekend in Rio.

celebrity sighting

I rode in an elevator with Selma Blair this week! She's doing a play here and the garage I use for work is attached to that theatre. I surprised myself by being VERY excited about the whole thing. I've never seen a famous person in real life before. I also really liked Kath and Kim.

The best things come in small packages

Ashley's baby shower gave me the perfect excuse to knit up some more baby sized items:

We went up to Salt Lake this past weekend for TJ's grandpa's funeral, which was sad but happy all at the same time.


Lucky for us Salt Lake is the center of everything - and we also got to have breakfast and afternoon shopping dates with the Page grandparents and adorable roomates.

we love visitors - take 2

Round two of Saltzman family visitors came this weekend - girls only version.

Our weekend was filled with country lunches, dessert, ice cream factory visits, miniature horses (that's right), dessert, pedicures, dessert, shopping, dessert, baseball games, and dessert!

we love visitors

Tex-mex - check. BBQ - check. Galleria - check.


He was only here for the weekend, but we got to the important stuff.

more on the whale shark thing

Our stock broker turned Mexican fisherman took us out to find them in the ocean. Then he grabbed on to their tails and rode them while I followed the rules and tried my best not to let them touch me. There's nothing quite so disconcerting as a 25 foot fish coming right at you with it's mouth wide open.

some more Mexico snaps