4th of July Fun

This year 4th of July was on a Wednesday which was a little weird.  Sure it was fun to have the day off but I had to work the day before and the day after, so it's not like we could travel or have to much fun :)  Chris and Lindsay suggested we go float the San Marcos river because it is a short float.  Excellent idea!! 

I think the float takes a little less than an hour and if you want, you can do it multiple times for a longer float... you just have to get out of the water once you are done floating, get on a bus and go back to the starting point. I haven't been to the San Marcos river before and I thought it was a great time!  Not to busy, the water felt nice (well, once you got in the water and got used to the cold water)

This was the most interesting part.  There is a bridge over part of the river that you either have to go around or go under the bridge.  Once you got near it, it looks pretty daunting but as long as you leaned back you were fine.  The underside middle part of the bridge wasn't as low as that edge.

Instead of doing another lap on the water, we just hung out at the end

Chris and Lindsay

Fun times!!!

Day Trip to the Hill Country

We try to visit the wine country around Austin at least once a year.  It is a fun day of trying new things enjoying the weather and having fun with friends!   For this trip we headed out with our friends Nicole and Steven. We love those two and always have a great time when we hang out.  Our first stop of the day is a bourbon distillery, Garrison Brothers Distillery.  They have a couple tours a day of the distillery with a tasting after the tour.

Nicole and Steven

Jim and I

The Ranch Hands dog.. can't remember his name but he looooooved his frisbee

I wanted to steal this pup and bring him home to our zoo.  He was so damn adorable and just wanted to love on everybody that walked by.  Right after I took this picture he ran up and gave me big wet sloppy kisses.  

This was the yeast room where it smelled fairly sour from the yeast fermenting.  I believe they said this mixture bubbles for a few days before moving on to the next step of the process. 

The bourbon samples laid out

The patio off of the barn that held the bourbon had a fabulous view. 

I would love to have that porch with the view on my house.

I wish I could remember the name of this winery but it was a converted farm house into a winery.  They used old doors to decorate one of the rooms ceilings, it was an awesome concept.  

Nicole, Steven, Jim and I after the 2nd stop

We had a couple other winery stops that day where we had good and bad wine tastings.  To finish our day we decided to listen to a local and head over to Johnson City Pecan Street Brewing for dinner and beer.  The beer was tasty but they were out of the beer that I really wanted to try to I ended up with a light blonde beer.   The food was good but the ambiance was more of a family/touristy diner place. I was hoping for some type of a local restaurant with good down home cooking.  

Our day was an excellent adventure with great friends.  I hope to do it again soon!!

Holy Balls of FUN!

I absoutly love it when SXSW rolls through Austin. A few years ago Jim and I decided that it was time that we enjoy the music/film/interactive festival that Austin has every year. So far we have only enjoyed the music portion of the festival mostly because I don't want to shell out the cash for the interactive badges. The music portion of the festival is the easiest to enjoy because there are plenty of shows that are free!! This year we stuck with our normal plan and took off Friday to enjoy SXSW free shows.

This year we started off at the SonicBid showcase at Maggie Maes. I typically RSVP for about 5 places each day to ensure that we have a place to go!! But typically once we find a cool spot we'll stick around there for the day (like we did this year). The music we heard at the SonicBid party was closely to what we typically listen to daily so we stuck around to watch all of the bands.

Nick and Magen joined us at the show

Me, Jim, Magen and Nick

After Maggie Mae's we headed over to Easy Tiger

Caught Nick and Magen taking a self photo :)

Ummm... Jimmy? Where ya going? He just hopped on the back of the cart and rode it for a bit. Either the driver/passenger didn't realize he was up there or they just didn't' care

At Easy Tiger we decided to get a snack since we didn't really eat lunch. We got the worlds largest pretzel and a homemade sausage. A nice afternoon treat.

When did Teen Wolf start playing the violin on 6th street?

While walking down 6th street, we saw a truck start to hand out guitars. I tried to get in there but I was wearing flip flops and had no desire to push through to get a musical instrument that I had no idea how to play :)

We ate at The Backspace for dinner that night. We haven't been there before but we decided to poke our head in to find out how long the wait was. Since it wasn't terrible we waited around and I was so glad that we did!! We started off with the roasted Brussels sprouts, which was wonderful!! I loved every little bite!

The pizza was also very good, and I can't wait to go back to try some of their other dishes!

Day 2- SXSW and St. Paddy's day

For our 2nd day of SXSW we went to the Hard Rock Cafe party at Cedar Door. This was a rocking party full of great appetizers that were being handed out, plenty of options for free adult beverages, tattoos if you wanted (no mom, I didn't get one), and of course great music!!

This band was Breathe Carolina- which I had not idea who they were until they played one of their songs. I think the rest of the crowd was in the same boat since they all kind of came alive once they started playing the popular song.

Da Gang... Chris and Lindsay joined us, Nick and Magen for day 2 of SXSW. We always have a great time with this group!

Found a new drink (like I needed a new drink to like)... it is San Pellegrino Orange with Vodka. Like a Screwdriver but with bubbles :)

One of the bands at the party... Didn't really like her music but enjoyed her dancers. Those ladies had some spunk!

Mike, Charlie, Whitney, Chris, Chris, Lindsay-

We randomly ran into other friends at this party!! Great times!

Jim, Mike, Charlie and Chris

This was the closing act at the Hard Rock Hotel party... once again I have totally forgotten all names of the bands we saw at SXSW. That is what happens when you wait a month to post.

After the Hard Rock shows, we headed over to the Auditorium Shores free shows to see The Cult and Bright Light Social Hour. I scored 4 passes to sit in the VIP section which was awesome because it was on the same stage as the show.

Bright Light Social Hour-- check out all of the fans out there!

During The Cult's set, they brought up Matthew McConaughey to the stage to play the bongos. If you know The Cult's music, you know that the bongos don't really fit with their music but it was still pretty cool to see McConaughey play. He is pretty darn cute in real life :)

Here he is walking up to the stage.... Had no idea what was going on until it was announced and then I turned around in time to snap this pic :) Wish I could have scored a picture with him.

The end of a very fun night!!! Didn't really do anything for St. Paddy's day (except wear green) but it was an excellent SXSW experience!

Engagement Pictures with Friends

A couple of weekends ago I met up with friends, Mike and Erin, to take their engagement pictures. We didn't have a lot of solid plans as to where or what type of pictures so we just headed downtown and had fun! The only issue of the day is that it was very overcast and I didn't have a lot of light to work with. For those of you not living in Austin, the weather here can be quite fickle... one day super sunny and 70 degrees but then the next day can be windy, overcast and a high of 50. There is no telling what type of weather that you will wake up to :)

Mike did mention that he wanted to get pictures in front of the Austin Greeting Card that is on South First Street, so that was our first stop.

Right around the corner from the Austin Greetings Card (which is painted on a wall),

is a cool lighting shop.
After a few more photos in that area, we headed down to South Congress. The picture below is behind the Austin Motel. I had no idea it was there until we parked on the street near there. There was a cool rusted out car with plants in it, so of course it became our backdrop.

Another iconic spot in Austin, which is on the side of Jo's Coffee on South Congress. I actually don't know much about this "sign" but it was perfect for our photo shoot!

I can't decide if I like this photo or not... I love Mike and Erin in it, but the damn leaf from a bush got in the way. Adds a little color to it, but part of me wishes it was gone.

On our last stop, I wanted to head down to a rusted out bridge that I have been eyeballing for a few years. You can see it while you are whizzing by on S. Mopac heading towards Cesar Chavez/5th street exit. I'm pretty sure this bridge is to connect the hike and bike trails to 5th street. I was fighting with the lighting at this point.... we had to hurry to get some pictures!

Love both of these pictures!!