The Roaring Twenties

The kid brother sent me a letter for my birthday. He talked about how he'd be turning 20 in a couple of months and how that would put us both in "the greatest decade, some might say."

He continued, "That is the reason why the theme of my letter today will be based around the goals I suggest that we set together to do in our prime. Sound good? Let's get started."

• Take the Rosetta Stone Italian course. Go to the eternal city of Rome and attend the temple there.
• Hit on Italian supermodels or at the very least, pretend we're Italian supermodels and let other Americans hit on us.
• Follow prophetic counsel and get married. (Editor's note: Don't worry, getting married isn't strictly confined to your twenties. Usually they encourage it earlier than that. <---Sarcasm!)
• Nonstop Harry Potter Marathon. 1-7 books and movies without sleep. 
• Just because I know you'll like it, Battlestar Galactica Marathon. With commentary.
• Pay up on Dad's Christmas gift from years ago and treat him to a game of golf. 
• 4 Singles / Austin Nights sitcom (Editor's note: We discussed via email a few weeks ago how I'm living a sitcom and it would be titled either 4 Singles or Austin Nights.)
• Visit the Albuquerque Zoo and relive the prime of our youth, a.k.a. that fun penny swirly thing and riding camels. 
• Getting back to our spouses. Picture this: double dates with our spouses. Or better yet, triple dates with Mom and Dad. 
• I wasn't going to put it down as a goal, but why not? SKYDIVING, BABY!
• Boston Marathon, but if that's not achievable, a 5K. 

Looks like we've got our work cut out for us, especially since he won't be back from his mission for another year. I better start training right now. (For the 5K, not the marathon. Yikes.)

Hop on the magic school bus!

 

Welcome to Street Food Friday Sunday! This month's edition is brought to you by my father, who taught me how to eat very, very late at night. Thank you, Dad.

Funny story--my plan was to eat at Mmmpanadas (because it's fun to say), but turns out they're only open for lunch. Luckily, the Mmmpanada truck lives in the same parking lot as Short Bus Subs, so that's where I ate instead! (Maybe that wasn't a very funny story.) But you know what is funny? Imagining the food trucks that are in the same parking lot coming alive at night like the food truck version of Toy Story meets Cars. Then they have mad food truck shenanigans and save the city of Austin. (Pixar, call me!)

Short Bus Subs is a shorty 'lil school bus. Their motto is "Better 'cuz we're baked." and I believed the dude making my sub practiced the philosophy of "getting baked" on a regular basis. (Magic school bus, indeed.)

They boast over 18 varieties of subs, listed on cutesy chalkboard menus on the side of the bus. They take the school theme very seriously, as each sub has a name like "The Hot Teacher," "The Lunch Lady," and "The Mascot." A six-inch sub will run you $5.49 and a twelve-inch sub goes for $9.49. I was worried that they would make you answer a math question before ordering, like, "If Susy orders a twelve-inch sub to split with Brett Bretterson and I order a six-inch to eat by myself, how many more dates will she have by the end of the week in comparison to me?" (Answer: There's a Bionic Woman marathon on Friday night, anyway. WHATEVER.)

 

The bus had an old-fashioned bottle opener that I used to pop open my Mexican coke. I liked that they were attentive to details...which is also how I like my men.

That is "The Bully." It's stacked with genoa salami, pepperoni, capocolla, provolone, lettuce, tomato (not on mine), pepperoncini, oil, and vinegar.
Pro: It was toasted. Who in their right mind eats a cold sandwich? Who?
Con: It tasted like a sub. Nothing more, nothing less.
Pro: The ingredients did taste very fresh.
Con: While it is technically a better sub than the Italian B.M.T. at Subway, depending on my mood, I might prefer the B.M.T.
Pro: They bake their own bread and it was mighty fine bread.

Verdict: In the words of one Liz Lemon, "I believe that all anyone really wants in this life is to sit in peace and eat a sandwich." Preach it, sister.

Short Bus Subs is located at 4209 Airport Blvd. (Website | Twitter | Facebook)

For more street food goodness, check out Lacey's all-out Brooklyn street food tour and when Jess dined on Haute Sausage.

Another year older and wiser too

(We shall see about wiser.)

I turn twenty-four today. 7:47 PM is my big birth moment. The only time I let myself feel old is when I remember that as a child I designated 24 as the year that I would both start my career and get married. Neither of those are on the immediate horizon, but a year is a long time. And if not, there will be years after that. I'm in no rush.

For past birthday memories, you can read about when I turned 21 and blogged a few of my favorite birthday memories. A personal favorite was age 3. "My first birthday party! I was the only girl in attendance, as my parent's friends conveniently managed to have all boys. (Seriously good odds. It's really a pity I was too young to care.) We made crime scene-style tracings of our little bodies on butcher paper. Mom and Dad? That was kind of morbid, but AWESOME."

22 and 23 were spent in Canada, oddly both in the same city. You often move around as a missionary--I lived in four beautiful BC cities. The first June I was in Victoria, but the day of my birthday I drove up to Courtenay with the other sister stationed there as our companions had a Very Important Meeting to attend on the mainland. The second year, I'd been in Courtenay for three months and knew I would soon be leaving. My darling sisters--both new in the mission field--sneakily planned a surprise party with all the members of the congregation. We ate enchiladas and they gave me a fake crown. If there's one thing you need to know about me, it's that I am a huge, ol' sucker for fake crowns. And real ones, although I've never had the chance. (I have no doubt in my mind that I would love a real crown.) I certainly had no idea that a year from then I'd be living in Texas.

Last night I held a birthday party. 90s-themed, because I believe that in order to have a good decade party you need to have two decades of space between the current year and the starting year. Last year would have been acceptable but, you know, Canada. So there were Lisa Frank decorations and Capri Suns and Clueless and a playlist seemingly pulled straight from VH1. I would classify the party as "a hit," maybe even "da bomb." (The 90s, man! Weren't they great?!)

I don't want to be all weird and introspective or retrospective for that matter, but I'm super grateful to have made it this far. (Next year, however, I reserve the right to have a full-on quarterlife crisis so you better watch out.) I began today with red velvet cake and a bowl of sugar-dusted raspberries. Any year that starts off like that is guaranteed to be wonderful, don't you think?