Austin Week 2

Week Two in Austin. Starting to feel like I know my way around a little bit, have to take fewer notes at work, and I'm starting to remember some names. Improvement over week one.


I really cannot remember what every day was, because I feel like we do so much every day. I know we went to The Parlour for pizzas and beer...on Thursday maybe? Crystal met us there and then we walked across the street to the Hyde Park Theatre to watch "The Atheist" which is a one-man play that an actor Tomas/Crystal know performed. After that we all headed over to Mohawk to check out a show James had booked for a bunch of local bands.


Then - FRIDAY!!! Joe & Lauren flew into town to visit his family and James & I reaped the benefits. James worked, so I stole Joe & Lauren and brought them to a few of my fave places around town. We hit the Good Knight (which is a little like the Red Stag, but much smaller), Shangri-La (where we sat outside on the back patio because it was so nice out), The Highball to meet Randy and listen to Kellen spin, and then finally Plush so Joe could check it out.


Saturday we went to Black Sheep Drafthouse for some food/drinks in the afternoon and then over to the Austin Art Garage. We wandered into a few boutiques and then made our way downtown for coffee and later sushi. After lining our stomachs with delicious fish & rice we split up with the plan of meeting back in an hour at Dirty Bill's for drinks before Joe had to be at Plush to play.





Dirty Bill's LIMO...took this over to Plush after some dranks >>>

Kellen's laptop crapped out on him last week and he pretty much lost everything on it. Rocking the desktop. KILLING IT>>>

Somehow didn't get a single pic of Joe/Lauren/James/Me at Plush...but here are some pics from the after-party at The Music Gym. For those of you coming to sxsw from MPLS - you'll be partying until the wee hours here.

Family Time Brunch at Woodland on South Congress:

Found the EXACT same finger puppets that Sam bought in CHI 2 years ago:

Sunday Night @ Red7...Look Mexico CD Release party...I grilled up 40 burgers for the show and basically had a great time. Missed ribs @ Joe's place...next time.

Had lunch with Joe/Lauren, and Joe's parents on Monday and then they headed back to MPLS. Sunday was an absolutely gorgeous day, in the 70's - and then Tuesday we woke up to this:

Snowball fight at work. That's Tatjana and Rachel.

Jill and Rachel with the first snowman they've ever built. People were geeking out over the snow...one guy told me it hadn't snowed this much in 10 years. Also, lots of people went home early from work and schools let out at noon.
Week 2 down. Bout to get on a plane for MPLS tonight...see you all soon.

Then it's moving day...round 2.

Austin: Week One

I flew into Austin on Sunday, February 7th, my plane hit ground around midnight - 2 hours behind schedule.

Monday: First day of work. My boss' name is Kevin. Another girl is named Rachel. You'll likely hear more about them in the future. We went to lunch with a few other people we work with...to CHUY'S. I love Chuy's. Super good food, enormous portions, and an amazing jalapeno cilantro ranch dressing condiment. After work James picked me up, we came home and he made me an amazing dinner of parmesan encrusted troat, with rice and steamed broccoli. Went to Emo's with James' friend Elliot to catch the Frank Turner show. James did a write-up of the show for Soundcheck...it says the show was "awesome" 90 times over and over. It doesn't really, but that was my suggestion.

Tuesday: Second day of work. I knew 4, maybe 5 people's names by the end of the day. Kevin and Rachel included. James and I went to the H.E.B., which is like Cub Foods, but has a Central Market inside of it, which is like Whole Foods (sorry to explain if you already know...I don't know who knows what)...after work. Dinner was Cheeseburgers with guacamole and carmelized onions. So good. (A theme is starting to present itself).

Wednesday. HUMP DAY PUMP UP! Got kinda bored at work Wednesday. My job is 50% Sales Assistant (proofing proposals/invoices the AE's create, creating sales presentations outlining the type of events/promotions we offer) and 50% Production Coordinator) (once an AE sells to a client the project comes to me to Coordinate.) By Wednesday I had trained a bit in Production Coordinator "stuff" then they just let me sit there. I don't know if they didn't know I had nothing to do...but they didn't say anything about it. Thursday and Friday were SA training and much busier. I think it'll be cool. Everyone there seems good so far. Wednesday Dinner was pork stir fry with onions and peppers, and cream cheese wontons with cranberries in some, and jalepenos in others. Nom. James worked Wednesday night, so I went with Nick (who we live with) to Red Fez (a hookah bar downtown) for a benefit with our friends Ivan (who many of you know), his fiance Sarah, and our friend Ryan.

Thursday. Work was busier, which was great. Met a few more people at work, including Cory, who is also in a band James manages, called Guns of Navarrone. They'll be playing with Sam/Ryan/Mikey/Travis (At Any Speed) during sxsw. I went to get thai for lunch with Rachel and Kevin, but it was packed so we went to Which Wich? and it ruled. Guns of Navarrone played Thursday night at Lovejoy's. We went to dinner with Nick at El Caribe, which is a really great mexican restaurant near our place in Hyde Park. After dinner James and I headed downtown to Lovejoy's for the show. It was great, made me really excited for a bunch of shows James booked for sxsw.

Friday James picked me up from a good day at work (which started with free breakfast tacos), and he and I made baked butternut squash with brown sugar, bacon wrapped chicken, and couscous. (Thank you PBG for the suggestions...pork belly next time). He had to work, and Crystal and I had made plans to hang out Friday. She and I ended up swinging through Ace's Lounge, which was pretty big, and pretty douchey. One of the stations I work for was having an event there, and we swung through so I could see what it was like. It was the "shock jock" morning show for the rock station. Think 93X having an event called PleasureFest at a bar that's a cross between NV and Sally's, and the bar is on 1st Ave downtown. We walked over to Plush to say hi to James, and then she and I met her man Tomas at a house party. Haha, it was fun. Then we made our way to Highball, which is a bar/bowling alley/karaoke lounge/live music venue that is run by the same couple as Alamo Draft House. A little spendy by Austin standards I guess, but pretty rad. After that we headed back to Plush - had a drink, and headed home.

Saturday = SLEEP. I hadn't caught up on sleep yet from the late entry on Sunday and also, just not used to being at work at 8:30am. I used to wake up at 9:00. Saturday was really great...we went to Thunderbird and ate delicious sandwiches. We ran some errands, went to Whole Foods (and didn't break up) and bought our Yeasayer tix from Waterloo records. Spent the night at the house, kicking it with Nick I believe...just watched movies with a few people and relaxed.

Sunday we walked through the neighborhood (Hyde Park) up to a little gelato/coffee shop, and a delicious cheese shop.

A few houses I like in the neighborhood on our walk. We're staying with our friend Nick at the house he rents...it's pretty great.




Hyde Park Grocery Store:


La Dolce Vita for coffee, espresso, and gelato. Lime & jalapeno? Yes please.




Antonelli's Cheese Shop. This just opened last weekend...awesome:





Finally, I didn't have to work on Monday which was really fantastic. We went over to our new apartment, which is really pretty great...checked that out and then went and had lunch at Torchy's Tacos. NOM NOM NOM. The South Austin Trailer Park (which houses food trailers and not people trailers) is like 1/2 mile from our crib...



So there you have it. Week One in Austin. It's been really great. Pretty surreal still. James and I were talking about it, and I feel like this whole move won't really sink in for a while - probably after South By...when everyone from Minneapolis has come and gone. Then I'm going to feel sad. Right now I'll just eat and eat and eat with my baby and feel happy.

Anticipation Rising

By now you all know I am dealing with a range of emotion as I prepare to leave Minneapolis for Austin on Sunday. Just thought I'd share a few of the things that I'm really looking forward to in Austin with you all. Consider it an attempt to entice you all to visit.

No comment necessary.

Days that look like these ^^^

hey cupcake! I linked directly to their menu. This is about a mile from my house. Win.

Emo's hosts a range of musical talent. This I like.

^^^Cannot wait to run and bike around the lake - like a half mile from the crib.

I haven't been here yet, but I've heard nothing but good about Magnolia. Thanks for the pic.

Randy works here (Dirty Bill's). They have this limo. I rode in it, I barely remember. Pretty sure because my vision was like this after drinking Randy's pink shots. >>>

I'll be spending a lot of time here ^^^ at Plush. (ps - get a website dudes).

I've been told Torchy's is amazing. I will judge soon enough.

I can tell you The Woodland is amazing. Ah-maze-ing. >>>

Lots of other things I'm really, really, really excited for:

-Whole Foods Mega Store!!! I just can't go with sam.
-Our POOL

-SXSW

-Staying at the San Jose Hotel on our anniversary (oh yeah babe - we're doing that)

-Watching lots of live music all the time.
-Eating tons of Amy's Ice Cream

-Sunshine and heat

-Meeting new people

-Relaxed alcohol laws

-Taco windows galore

-Food carts galore

-Taco spots that serve frozen sangria

-Record shops

-My new job

-New music SO MUCH NEW MUSIC

That's just scratching the surface. Really, really excited.