TEXAS Austin – a gdovin girl's perspective

a Faerie Tale come to Life

Published on February 24, 2020November 11, 2020 by a gdovin girl

Abby and I embarked on a girls trip this week. On Thursday, we boarded American Airlines (Abby called dibs on the window seat) for Austin, Texas to join my sister, Robyn and her granddaughter (my great niece), Alina, for the 2020 Faerie Tea. Oh, but this is so much more than just a tea party.

First things first – the perfect faerie dress. This is no time for a costume. Etsy is the place to go for carefully constructed faerie gowns befitting the event. Always good to support small businesses.

Alina wore a tulle skirted gown in all of the blues and greens you could imagine on a beautiful peacock in all of it’s glory. With her fair complexion and thick black hair, this color pallet showcased this 8 year old beauty.

Abby’s “new favorite” color is green. So, naturally, a Tinkerbell Fairy dress was in order. https://www.etsy.com/shop/Emmasmagicalcloset had the perfect one. The workmanship was amazing, the dress was impeccable and the customer service was second to none. The colors were perfect with her blond pixie cut and sparkly green nails!

And now we were off to meet up with other fairies at the gardens.

Welcome to
Zilker Botanical Garden —

located on 26 acres nestled within Zilker Metropolitan Park

in the heart of downtown Austin, Texas,

Zilker Botanical Garden is often called

“the jewel in the heart of Austin”.

First step was to sign in and select a Fairy Name. Alina chose Peacock Girl while Abby stuck with Tinkerbell. Way to nail the theme, ladies! After a few indoor games, the garden tour began with the guide imparting information about the gardens and their care. She kept it engaging by sprinkling bits of “fairy dust” particles of information on such things as what fairies eat and how they make their tiny houses. There were actual fairy homes here and there and each seemed to have a little theme. There was a sewing fairy house and a cozy gardening fairy home to name a few.

There were ponds to explore and places for fairies to pose and even a book to read!

All fairies got to plant their own plants to attract tiny fairies and butterflies. Aunt Robyn will plant Abby’s at her home and watch it grow. We cannot take it on the plane and cannot bring it into Arizona. Abby was thrilled that Aunt Robyn will watch over her plant.

A trip to remember. Loved every enchanting minute! Thanks to Robyn for the amazing photos!

DAY 1 Vacation

Published on April 13, 2019April 14, 2019 by a gdovin girl

Surprising how quickly 5 a.m. comes when you finally get to sleep around 2 a.m. What is even more surprising is that I feel awake enough to finish the last-minute packing and alert enough to call Mr. Uber. The line at Tucson International was hella long – one of my bags was overweight by 1.5 pounds. Because I am too cheap (and too SANE) to pay $100 overweight fee, I wrestled the plastic protective cover from my huge bag, removing the packing cube which is labeled “BEACH”, wrestled the big bag cover back on the huge piece of luggage and proceeded to go thru the entire routine with the normal sized bag. Placing the packing cube (yes, everything IS in packing cubes and properly labeled BEACH, BOOBIES, BOOTIE, FOOTIES – I think you get the idea) in the normal sized bag only to find that I had to expand that bag and the protective cover would no longer fit; all the while holding up the very long line. Yes yes. I am one of those people – at least for today.

The best laid plans …

Going thru security was a breeze because I am now a priority one known traveler (courtesy of Homeland Security, 45 minutes of questioning and $75)! When I got my approval letter in the mail, I kinda felt a little like Steve Martin …

“The new phone book’s here… I’m a somebody now.”

And now ready to board in Phoenix to arrive in Austin just in time for my sister, Robyn to question my choice of taking eight pairs of shoes and my great niece, Alina to entertain me for the evening. And speaking of which, I find this at the airport!

nice.

Followed up by sweet little grand (great?) niece, Alina.

Precious.

January – June 2012 Photo album pages completed …Finally!

Published on June 28, 2014 by a gdovin girl

yeah yeah. I am a bit behind in my photo albums. Now, on to the last half of 2012. Stay Tuned!

Best Gift EVER!

Published on December 19, 2013December 20, 2013 by a gdovin girl

A few short years ago, I started a sibling Christmas gift exchange. The reason was a simple one. After the death of our oldest and youngest brothers, I just wanted the remaining four siblings to connect. The idea was to be nothing fancy but should be handmade or recycled or at least had some kind of personal aspect. We all were living in different places so far away from one another. Lori in Grand Junction, Mark in Colorado Springs, Robin in Austin and me in Tucson.

The first year I had Mark’s name and made him a calendar with footprints of his grand kids and family photos. The second year, I made Robin an ornament using some of Gram’s old costume jewelry. I cannot say what I did this year for Lori, because it would ruin her surprise!

I loved the gifts that Robin and Lori bestowed on me the previous two Christmases. This year, Mark had my name. Imagine my surprise to see a huge package all wrapped in cardboard and taped together by our front gate yesterday. As soon as I began cutting the tape, I realized just what my gift from the heart was.

Some years back, with the blessing of Gram, I signed over the deed to her house to her niece, whom I affectionately called Sissy. This house shared a split deed with Sissy’s home since the day they were built. Gram’s home was built in the late 1800’s and Sissy’s house built in the early 1900’s. Gram’s house at 4500 Perry Street in Denver, was the original family home of my great grandparents and was built by my great-grandfather and other friends and relatives. Years later, in 1906, my grandma was born in the front bedroom of that little 2 bedroom home, as was my mother in 1927. To say that this home had sentimental family history that always touched my heart, is an understatement at the very least.

After Sissy passed away, my cousin had both homes demolished. Gram’s home was nowhere near modern building code and would have been cost prohibitive to bring it to building and safety code. After the demolition, Mark made the trek from Colorado Springs to Denver and managed to salvage a little 24 inch door for me. It must have been a difficult thing to see the house gone, but still, he did it because I asked. I had to hold back tears as I removed the layers of cardboard and packing and tape to discover the door that Mark took the time to grab and then store at his home for several years.

I have so many ideas for this door. Shall I make it into a kitchen table? Maybe a wall hanging? In the meantime, my first instinct was to dress her for the holidays. And here she stands in her glory showing off a new wreath. Thanks, Mark. You made my day. No, not day. You made my Christmas oh so special, and I love you so much for your thoughtfulness.