Awesome Texas: Passing Through The Capital City

There is no doubt that Austin is an amazing city! With world famous music festivals, taco trucks that inspire Food Network television shows, and organic hipster coffee shops, it’s no wonder why its one of the fastest growing areas in the united states. And I think I may be the only person who has moved away from this city, rather than to it.

Its unusual for an Austinite to ask, “Is there be any place better to live than here?” The answer is yes, but it’s somewhere where palm trees grow. I always say if Austin was located in the caribbean, I would never have left. But the ocean has always been calling my name, and Port A doesn’t really count. The Texas coast has brown water, seaweed covered beaches, and disturbing amounts of jellyfish. I did however enjoy an adventures spring break in South Padre senior year of university!

Spring break 2008 with my besties

When I’m home in Austin, I love hanging out around town. Austin has this amazing phenomenon in which you can walk into a building that looks deserted or condemned, and find a hip coffee shop complete with Japanese paper lanterns and food that’s oozing Tex-Mex goodness. And as far as fashion is concerned, anything goes! I just watched a dude with a cowboy hat/skinny jeans combo order a coffee. While dressing this morning, I didn’t feel self conscious about wearing my cropped leggings with moose print Alaska socks sticking out from my moms imitation Uggs. I’ve come to terms with the fact that my mom will always have a more fashionable and better stocked wardrobe than my traveler lifestyle will allow.

The capital building is a must stop on a tour of the city. Take the free tour to get schooled on our states history.

With ACL, SXSW, LoneStar Jam, and The Free Texas Music series, I’m never short on entertainment in this city!

So what’s the down side to being from an amazing city? I don’t think I’ll ever afford to move back, even if I wanted to. Austin has become so popular that housing is an issue unless you have large sums of money to drop on rent. Not to mention the crazy traffic that this small city doesn’t know how to handle. I can’t say that I dislike the increased population of this city because some of the coolest friends I have here are new Austinites. Austin is awesome, and I’m glad you found it!

A famous mural in South Austin, that has recently been restored

Thanks Austin for the peanut butter chocolate smoothie with soy milk, but I’m just passing through!

The Real Deal with Black Friday: Passing Through Texas

I already told you that I am not interested in Black Friday. The crowds are not worth the few discounted items that are sold out before the tenth person in line can get one. But I found out my little brother was going with his girlfriend to Walmart at 8pm for the start of the sale, so I figured I might see about getting that ipod touch I had my eye on. So I grabbed our German foreign exchange student, and hit the road! It’s a good cultural exchange to see Black Friday shopping right?

Turns out the crowd wasn’t the fist fighting, hair pulling mob that I’ve seen in videos on YouTube. There were only about fifteen people in line for the start of the ipod touch sale, and there were plenty left over for customers that arrived after the initial start of the sale. The lines were long but died down after about thirty minutes.

I came home to search for online deals, and the ones that weren’t sold out seemed to be good and hassle free! And everything has free shipping in the US, so it’s a good time for me to be home! I didn’t have a bad in-store Black Friday, but I will stick to shopping in my underwear at home.

I want hear from the die hard Black Friday shoppers. Are the sales worth the crowds and the wait? Do you pick one store or do you try to hit up lots of stores? Do you do it all just to see the chaos?

Thanks for the ipod Black Friday, but I was just passing through!