This is the first of a few back-dated posts. Hopefully I’ll remember everything.

My consulting job finish on June 30th, and I found out that there was going to be 2 weddings with in a couple weeks of each other in TX. Eric T was going to get married in Austin, then Stephen M in Brownsville. I bought a ticket and spent about half a month in TX (July 2 – July 18).
First day there, we check out this new bar and grill, and I meet this beautiful Russian girl and even manage to get her number. More on this later….

Eric’s wedding was in Austin, outside in July! Fortunately it wasn’t as hot as everyone was expecting. All of the men were wearing Filipino barong shirts, which was really cool. I wish I had one. The wedding was really quick, and the reception started up right away. Everything was cool and laid back, which I think was the idea.

I stayed in Austin for the weekend at Daniel’s new house, then left to Brownsville on Monday. Daniel’s house is pretty pimp, but still new. It still needs to get “lived-in” and buy some freakin’ furniture! I tried calling the Russian girl a couple times, but she didn’t have voicemail setup, so I never found out if she even knew that I called. Oh well, bum number. Waitresses must get that all that time…

Went to Brownsville to hang out with my cousin, who was visiting, and, of course, to visit Cookie. Cookie had moved back from Madrid and was hanging out for the Summer until his professional career as a student can start up again :)

Stephen’s wedding was that Saturday at the same church that Shannon was married. Reception was at Louie’s at the Island. Reception was fun, and saw a lot of people I haven’t seen in a long time. Here is someone’s album of the reception. Unfortunately, I didn’t bring my camera, so no Shawn-centric photos :(
Drove back to Austin with Mario and his fiance on Sunday, so he could get back to work. By the way, freakin’  Mario is engaged!

Monday was my last night there, so I figured I’d try to call the Russian girl one last time. Wonder of wonders, she picks up, but is distressed to find that this was my last night. She already had plans and all that. C’est la vie, some small talk, then we hang up. I go out with Daniel and have a few drinks. So around 1AM she calls me up and asks where should she go to meet up with me! She’s already downtown, and thought I was too. Daniel yells out “Lucky Lounge” and we high tail it across Austin. Bars down there close at 2AM, so there wasn’t really a lot of time to hang out. I swear we got there in 9 minutes and 57 seconds, like Mr. Wolfe in “Pulp Fiction”. We actually beat her to the bar and chill out for a bit. She shows up, lookin’ like the cat’s meow, as the kids say. Hang out, have a few drinks, we relocate to Dan’s house at 2 and keep drinkin’. Had a great time. Too great… Next morning, I couldn’t get out of bed and it cost me around $100 to reschedule my flight for Wednesday. I did finally leave on Wednesday. I remember saying offhandedly to her, “If you ever end up in NYC, give me a call, I’ll show you around….”