Austin, the Hip City

Happy Saint Patrick's Day!

On Friday Kyle and I headed into Austin. The weather still isn't great here, so it was grey, hazy, warm and humid. That, plus driving into the city, not good for me or my brain. But, I was determined to not be grumpy and stressed this time around. We arrived in time for lunch, and luckily found parking right off of Guadalupe, near UT campus. Parking was for customers only though, so we just ate lunch at one of the places right there, Tom's Tabooley. Kyle had a gyro and I had a thai wrap, and we tried these not-your-average sodas. My mandarin orange tasted pretty bad, but Kyle's sarsaparilla soda was better. It was also here that I learned Austin is really a city of hipsters. {also not hipsters, but really a lot of hipsters} Does that have something to do with why everybody thinks Austin is so cool? No, it can't be...

 Stopped in at a thrift shop next door. There were some avid thrifter hipsters there, for sure. I found a couple things too.

Sidetrack: At this point I was wondering if I would have to become more cool to fit in with all these hip folk were I to come to school in Austin. Perhaps if I went back to a simpler time, and dressed as I did when I was little and obviously at my most hip.

Early 90s bag lady chic, anyone?

Anyway, on to the University of Texas! It was their spring break, but it was definitely not deserted as Baylor was. There looked to be some sort of high school students with parents visit day/weekend going on. So, nobody at the School of Social Work for me to talk to, but we found the building (right next to the stadium) and wandered around inside a little. The further we got into campus the less hipster more yourtypicalcollegekid it was, a good sign. The trees were awesome here too. Good job on the trees, Texas universities. Now, if you could just do something about the heat, I could maybe even learn to love you. Maybe.

We then came upon the Bob Bullock Texas State History Museum, and were swayed by the giant poster outside advertising for a flying dinosaur IMAX 3D film. See it there? It was also hot, and I was happy to go inside the cold theater (theaters are always cold). Kyle and I actually don't really like 3D movies, but I guess our love of dinosaurs blinded us to this fact. We were gently reminded when the film started and made our brains hurt.

Horrible, horrible pillows for sale at the gift shop. I mean really. 

What if I sent you one of these? You would immediately de-friend me

from every social network site possible. And I would deserve it.

cool treats!

this is where Kyle got his tattoo last year. 

Then we drove across the river and found South Congress Ave., parked again, and wandered the very busy streets. If you didn't know, the annual South by Southwest fest is going on in Austin, so it is an especially popular place to be right now. There were all sorts of food trucks, music, tents and shops set up. Also more hipsters.

also puppies

that you could take home with you. 

We decided to head home and get dinner back in Temple as I wasn't particularly hungry yet at 5:30. We will definitely have to take a trip to Austin again, specifically with the intention of going kayaking on the river. It looks wonderful. Thank you husband for doing the driving and navigating the busy city streets. You're the best.

State High

My high school, State College Area High, made this pretty cool and definitely impressive lip dub video! The only not cool part is that Kyle and I, class of 2006, didn't recognize any of the students, a sign that we are truly old. I did spot my father in law (5:13), though (and my freshman/sophomore year locker)! He teaches chemistry; my sister was in his class, years before Kyle and I ever started dating. It was also fun seeing several former hang out spots and familiar places. Band hallway, choir room, auditorium...I spent a lot of time at that school. Oh, nostalgia. I really loved high school. Well done, State High.

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Wednesday Wedding: A Peek

Continuing from yesterday, here's a look at what I've been working on the last couple days...

 Oh you know, some Daily Show and Colbert Report while getting stuff done. 

{Custom Stamp from Stamp Out Online. And I love it.}

PS- Happy Pi Day!

Working on the Wedding

To my merriment, a couple of wedding things arrived in the mail early on Monday (though our mail doesn't come until around 5 pm, so maybe it was actually from late Saturday). It was really just what I needed, a project to start working on. Things have been very blah lately and I haven't been feeling my best. But getting wedding things in the mail helps (and there's more on the way!), and I'm really getting into working on the little details, as my bridesmaids will tell you from the many short emails I've been sending out lately. Invitations should go out at the end of this week or early next week, now that I've realized that obviously the registry doesn't have to be 100% completed at this time. I have to say, Excel has been my best friend with these wedding invites and keeping track of the guest list. I have a big spreadsheet set up with guests, their addresses, and other organizational info so that I know everything I need to know. Except in some cases I forgot to put in addresses when I got them last fall for the save the dates (my bad). And I don't trust that everyone hasn't moved since the fall (I mean, we did), so I send out annoying just checking! messages via facebook and email anyway. But in theory this spreadsheet should be a time saver. 

I'm not sure yet what to do for Wednesday Wedding tomorrow. We'll see what I come up with.