PINCH ME! I can’t believe January is already over. This month has gone by so quickly – partly because I (not-so-secretly) want this busy season go be over with, and partly because I’ve been so busy! I wanted to make sure I spent enough time with friends and family before I had no life for the next five months.
WEEK 1 | January 1 – January 7
The month started off with a fun game-night with one of our favorite newlywed friends (well the celebrations really started on NYE). They recently bought a house and hosted us for New Year’s Eve! We played our favorite games, ate lots of cheese and crackers and got to the last question of the $18,000 HQ game (thanks Drew for not knowing what technology they used in the Egyptian pyramids, sheesh). Seeing their house decorated with all of their wedding photos and real grown-up furniture made me really excited for when Drew and I could have our own home together.
I had the rest of the week off as part of my “Christmas break”. As much I talk about how long our hours are, my vacation time is unreal. Five weeks of PTO and being able to take off two weeks for Christmas/New Years (even after taking off three weeks for the wedding). Since we were already given free PTO the week between Christmas and New Year’s, we had the option of taking off the week before Christmas or the first week of January. I knew the week before would be super chill so I opted for the first week of January.
Jennifer hadn’t gone back to Austin yet so I wanted to get some sista time in. In typical Tan sister fashion, we went to Target and took pictures on the floor of aisle C16/17. I don’t think I laugh more than when I am with my sister. She is just super weird and I’m like…the cool older sister, ya know? Just kidding. We have the best time together and be random and weird together without feeling judged (because who cares about the haters).
The week ended with a fun bachelorette party in Austin to celebrate one of my college gal pals! We met in a dance organization called STEEL our sophomore year. Long story short, she’s marrying one of my long-time middle school friends and we celebrated her last few weeks of being single! It was one of the first times I had been back in Austin as a non-student and was able to enjoy the city just for fun.
Her maid of honor and I decorate the hotel room with all things bachelorette party (think lots of balloons and streamers). The bride made these super cute shirts for us to wear that said “On Cloud Wine”. We walked around downtown Austin, discovered Portrait mode on my phone, and had a quick lunch at Juiceland. Afterward, we all went to The Austin Winery where we hung out for the afternoon. Y’all – they had wine in a bag. Not Franzia type wine, like the real adult stuff, but in a cute pre-portioned bag. I don’t drink wine, but if I did, that contraption seems like the perfect accessory.
Once everyone was done getting their wine on, we freshened up at the hotel and went off to Rainey Street. It has only been 1.5 years since I’ve lived in Austin, but geez, it has changed so much! Rainey was packed and had so many new bars, food trucks, and even apartments near there. I remember when it used to be the “quiet” and classy place to go. Not that we weren’t being classy, but the Container Bar was a straight-up dance club that night. We eventually made our way to East 6th where we got free “champagne” (I put air quotes because everyone said it was nasty), saw the typical 2AMers, and helped the bride dodge creeps.
For our last meal of the weekend, we had brunch at Hillside Farmacy. It was a true pharmacy turned restaurant with lots of healthy breakfast options. I opted for the biscuits and gravy and wowza it was delicious. A few of the girls got grilled grapefruit. And to be honest, at first thought, I thought it sounded too out-there for me, but they said it was amazing! I will definitely be trying that the next time I am there.
As fun as the weekend was, I think one of the most memorable moments had nothing to do with the actual bachelorette party. As we were getting ready to part ways, one of the girl’s cars would not start. Of course at first glance we all thought to try jumping her car because duh, it’s *always* your car battery. Well to our surprise, that didn’t help. One by one we all started calling the men in our lives to ask for “roadside” assistance. We got answers from your battery is dead to your carburetor needs to be replaced. About 20 minute went by with multiple people walking by and just staring when the sweetest man came and offered to help us while his wife and daughter waited in the car! He cleaned the car battery of all of the rust that was there (now looking back, yes, the rust looked shady but we didn’t know). A quick 15 minutes later and we were up and running! Thank goodness for the great men that are still out there.
WEEK 2 | January 8 – 14
After a great weekend, real life started back up again. Luckily we weren’t in full-force busy season yet and I was able to squeeze in lunch and dinners with family. My family drove up for dinner one night and we ate at our favorite sushi restaurant, Osaka Japanese Restaurant, for our last family meal. I say last, but I mean last family meal before my sister went back to school. I also was able to grab lunch with my sister and dad at a local Mediterranean market/grocery store, Phoenicia. It’s close to my office and has free parking so it was the perfect place for lunch!
That same day, Drew and I got drinks with one of his old coworkers and his girlfriend. We went to one of our favorite bars in downtown Houston, Flying Saucer. They are known for their trivia and their beer plates. This places as at least 50+ beers on tap at all time. People can get a plate on the wall after drinking 200 beers, and y’all, there are so many plates. We spent the evening catching up and discussing our obsession with Disney. She knows a ton about Disney and re-inspired me to plan a trip there this year!
The next night Drew and I finally had a date night! We ventured out and tried our new-fave Indian restaurant, Shiva. You guys, we have been trying to find a decent Indian restaurant for what feels like forever. Our actual favorite place is Clay Pit in Austin and have been searching for its equivalent in Houston. We finally found it! We both usually get the Chicken Tikka Masala (so basic, we know), but the waitor suggested the Chicken Makhi and wooooooow it was so good. We decided this would be our go-to place for Houston Indian food.
After dinner we watched a one-man-show version of An Iliad at Main Street Theater. The theater was cozy and intimate, so not what I was expecting, but surprisingly perfect. This man starred in the almost 2-hour show all on his own and it was impressive. I’m not a big fan or super interested in Greek history, but he kept me entertained for the entire time!
WEEK 3 | January 15 – 21
I don’t know what is happening this year, but Houston had their second episode of snow in a month! I think it’s safe to say that most Houstonians, myself included, have no idea how to handle snow. I don’t even think the city of Houston has any salt trucks (don’t quote me on that). So luckily for us, we had 1.5 snow days! I personally love working from the comfort of my own space so this was a nice break from the 50+ hours spent in the office. Drew also had snow days so it was nice to be able to work from home together, even if he was on calls for both of those days. Plus I got to sip on hot chocolate and test my theory that more marshmallows equals better hot chocolate (verdict: it’s true).
My coworkers love a good beer after a long work week, especially after the craziness of the “snow”. We started a busy season “tradition” of doing “Boot Fridays” the first Friday that the interns are with is. Basically going to Bar Munich in Midtown, ordering a beer in a glass boot, and taking pictures of our manager chugging it. As a non-drinker I really just go for the questionable bar food and to socialize.
I left early from our Boot Friday because Drew and I got our MoviePasses this month so we were had a movie date night planned. We watched The Post with our favorites Meryl Street and Forest Gump. And I’m not even ashamed – we brought our own meal from the one-and-only Taco Bell. Judge me all you want, movie food is way too expensive and we can’t be living that life while we’re saving for a house! It was a perfect date night to start the weekend.
WEEK 4 | January 22 – 28
The next week was pretty long for two reasons: busy season and recruiting. We hadn’t officially started our long hours just yet because of the snow days and because we didn’t have numbers (audit term for we don’t have anything to audit). This was the first week of full-on busy season hours of working 9AM to 10PM. Again, luckily for me, I had a recruiting event in Austin on that Tuesday so I got a break from auditing for a few days.
However, recruiting is a different type of work. I love going back to Austin and getting to talk to young MPAs, but as an introvert, it gets pretty exhausting! We are trying to get students excited about the upcoming semester and our company but all of that talking can really take it out of you. Once we finished up the main event, we had an after party at Cedar Door in downtown Austin. It was a great trip but I was sure glad to call it a night!
The rest of the week was pretty chill. One night Drew’s best man and his wife flew in from Colorado to celebrate a friend’s birthday so we all got together to catch up at this cool bar in downtown Houston, called Public Services. Another night we had an early birthday celebration for my mom at Gyu-Kaku with the entire family. Side note: Make a reservation here because the wait for a Saturday night was 1.5 to 2 hours. And I finally got my CPA license. It has been over a year since I passed all exams and over 6 months since I met the education requirement. I finally decided to finish up my paperwork and get my ish together. I don’t think I had ever been so excited to receive a piece of paper in the mail!
WEEK 5 | January 29 – 31
My life other than that has consisted of auditing, auditing and more auditing. Even though we are officially in busy season, it has been a great start to 2018 and I can’t wait to see how the rest of the year goes.
FEBRUARY FORECAST
We will be celebrating our first Valentine’s Day as a married couple. Drew will be going on a ski trip (without me). A lot more auditing.
Goodbye January, see you next year!
Vivian
