It's a New Year, My Dear.

I am not entirely sure, Readers Dear, how we have managed to already traipse along the month of January in the year of our Lord Old Gregg 2010 to the twelfth day.

The Aquatic Cousins have been engaged in separate journeys thus far in this new year and new decade (oh shut up I know it's not really a new decade, but some of us are eager for fresh starts over here)- I, AC2, went camping on the Eve of New Year's Eve in the forty degree weather because that was an amazing idea and subsequently had my voice repossessed in the Return of My Christmas Illness.

On actual New Year's Eve I still wore my blue dress with the Lady Gaga shoulder pads (I really wish I had a proper photo of that to show you, but I failed in my usual zest for photography) and croaked at friends and co-workers in the early hours of our Fresh New Start while drinking champagne from everything but a proper champagne glass. I am classy to the end, my dears. To the end.

AC1 went to a magical concert (INDOORS! Where it is warm!) of our previously recommended musical loves Flosstradamus and I am sure she will fill you in on her happenings there at a later date.

In semi-related news, I received not one, but TWO Edward Cullen dolls over the course of the holidays. You may assume one of the following from this statement of unfortunate fact:

1) I am secretly a die-hard Twilight fan and make out with both of them before I go to bed every night/am going to order that Regretsy wall decor to cement my stance in life

2) I hate everyone that I know

3) I firmly believe that Robert Pattinson is crying somewhere because all these creepy likenesses of him are roaming around the face of the planet/the bag of that creepy lady

I think you can probably figure out my stance on the matter of Twilight, especially if I point you in the direction of something lovely I was sent by two different people in the course of several minutes last night, including my boss. (I was also Re-Tweeted the same @FakeAPStylebook entry within minutes this morning. . .so basically The Internets at Large knows me as a Crazy Cat Lady with a hatred of all mediocre vampire literature. Awesome.)

As far as Resolutions go, I hereby declare the following for the Aquatic Cousins:

1. Complete Bedazzling Project
2. Commence and Complete Disco!Deer Project
   
3. Engage in the Consumption of Cooks Together, on One or Both Occasions
   
4. Be More Awesome (this may not actually be possible)
   

I haven't run those past AC1 but I'm sure she'll agree that they are more than worthy for our conduct in this New Year.

This is AC2 (using a photo of AC1) wishing you a prosperous and joyful New Year.

It's a New Years Kiss, from the Aquatic Cousins to you, baby.

-AC2

No really, I want a pony.

It has been All Quiet Here on the Cousin Front for a variety of reasons- Aquatic Cousin 1 has been away with Empty Chair Cousin and her older sister (who shall wed in the spring and who I don't have a snazzy name for. . .Tequila Cousin? Help me out here, Mandapants!) along with other family, in Taos for the holiday weekend. I have been stuck with a computer that decided it no longer wanted to recognize any such thing as this newfangled "INTERNET" and pulling my hair out waiting to hear back on a sweet gig at an awesome local company. . .because yes, I need yet another job.

BUT I GOT IT!!! So now I'll be working 9:30am-3:30pm for The Man, Monday through Friday. I will also be wrapping up my thesis, compiling my data and actually writing my thesis, continuing to work for Mr. Artist Boss Man aka Kevin Greer and. . .you don't really care about my schedule, do you?

It's okay. I'll just drink my milk over here and pretend that you care. (Hey, it's important to prevent osteoporosis kids.) Perhaps you'd be more interested in hearing about my very first tailgaiting experience from UT's opening season game last Saturday, wherein I fell asleep sitting on a cooler, drooled on my arm and got massively sunburned across my back and shoulders.

Hey, we can't be pure sex all the time; but we try for you, faithful readers- we try for you. Additionally, that photo there (taken from Sixth Street adventures* I embarked on Friday night with some out-of-town visiting friends) reminds me of an important announcement that I have yet to make on this here blog:

SEPTEMBER 29TH IS MY BIRTHDAY; YOU HAVE 21 DAYS TO PREPARE, PEOPLE.

Ahem. Just thought you should know. In case you wanted to buy me some Ray-Ban wayfarers. Or a pony. Or seasons 2.0, 2.5 or 4.5 of Battlestar Galactica. Or a Disco Deer. Or a case of Sophies. Or the entire Outlander book series by Diana Gabaldon. Or any and all Viking Time-Travel romance novels by Sandra Hill. Or a mastiff.

I'm sure I'd be able to hide a mastiff inside this apartment without my management ever finding out. They are such tiny and delicate creatures.

Look for more cousin adventures to come- I'm sure AC1 has loads of updating to do about her trip to Taos. And I've finally resolved my problems with AT&T, so you can look forward to me not bitching about that anymore.

-AC2

*Sixth Street is the resident Drunk Street of Austin- the Aquatic Cousins recommend you go mostly for the people watching and cheap drinks and then move on to classier places to hang out for a more better time.

Giant floating heads and canned champagne

Greetings, dear readers! This is Aquatic Cousin 2 speaking, live from Kickbutt Coffee.

[If you like the dress, I borrowed it from Aquatic Cousin 1 and no I am not wearing it anymore, but I did love it so much I bought it and you can too. Let's all be twins! I'm sure it works that way. ]

As a graduate student who works two jobs out of her house (internet permitting HEY THERE AT&T), I- Aquatic Cousin 2- have a pretty strange and continually morphing schedule (though unfortunately it never morphs into anything fun like a Power Ranger; having Zordon as a conversation piece in my apartment would spice up ALL my dinner parties). At the moment Wednesdays are my nights off from fieldwork and often Aquatic Cousin 1 and I involve ourselves in some type of mischief.

Yesterday, for example, I received a text message that said only "BEDAZZLE!!!" and knew immediately that I must journey to the Barbie Dream House* and enter into bedazzling activities with Aquatic Cousin 1; champagne and tacky glue being the moral adhesive of our universe.

Observe the plight of our project thus far:
This was Aquatic Cousin 1's idea after seeing a photo of the Disco!Deer and wondering what she might do in order to improve upon the plain plywood appearance of her cabinets. More updates and details on this project as it progresses, mark my words.

After spending a little over four hours tirelessly adhering acrylic jewels to the back of the cabinet from the vantage of the granite counter top (and praying to Lord Old Gregg we wouldn't go crashing through the floor into the downstairs apartment) with the aid of champagne, we decided that dinner and a bit of a night out on the town were in order.

Austin is of course famous for its many varied and delicious Tex-Mex joints and Guero's Taco Bar was the decided upon destination for the evening's taco and margarita beverage needs; Aquatic Cousin 1 is your definitive source for all things at the bar and could tell you which version we were enjoying last night. I am here to talk shrimp tacos and my neverending fear and loathing of hookah which we enjoy patronizing Red Fez downtown for (more on that in a moment, dear readers).

Margaritas on the rocks for the Aquatic Cousins

Normalcy is not something we lay claim to, or ever have.

After dinner we talked about checking out a friend's show at Antone's, but ultimately found ourselves enjoy beverages and mango-flavored hookah at Red Fez. I personally did only partake in the water beverage selection and cowered in fear of the terrifying hookah, as I have recently started kickboxing classes at the Martial Way Academy and now have to rise at a respectable hour to get some busted up sexy knuckles to show for my efforts of holding up pads for large sweaty men.

THE HOOKAH IS ATTACKING DOWNTOWN TOKYO! RUN FOR YOUR LIIIIVES!!!

We were both only children, dear readers, and have developed interesting imaginations and ideas of entertainment as a result of this. At any rate if you find yourself in Austin and need yourself a good Tokyo-attacking hookah, Red Fez is your place. They usually have some sweet tunes and are one of the only places in town you will find Sophia Coppola's canned champagne- it comes with a straw, even. How could you possibly beat that? Sophies, we call them. I highly encourage you order one or order a case and send them to us, we will post pictures of us drinking them and maybe even wearing bikinis if you send several cases.

I would love to keep on, my darlings, but a week's backlog of fieldnotes** awaits me. Take care and in the meantime we appreciate all questions/comments/concerns/pledges to send seven cases of Sophies in the comments.

-Aquatic Cousin 2

*Barbie Dream House or BDH= the residence of Aquatic Cousin 1; it is fabulosity itself.
**fieldnotes are part of my fieldwork, for my thesis, which is ethnographic in nature and if you don't know what that means, ask me or use Google for its intended purposes, Internet.