It's been quite some time since I've been to a Friday happy hour and Saturday morning as I clawed my way out of bed, I remembered why. It was a great night though and started at the Trudy's near campus with a fun gathering with some people from work. Trudy's is famous for their two drink limit on Mexican Martinis. Needless to say, I met the limit and by 5:30 I was ready to hit the town.
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So a few people have really wanted to see the new addition to our family. A wardrobe. A fabulous, huge, makes-me-feel-like-a princess closet expansion! I had never been to IKEA before and needless to say, before this project was over we had gone three times and spent approximately 8 hours in this place. If you ever need to go to the store in Austin, I can talk you through all the short cuts to get through departments, seriously.
We went on a Saturday morning at 10am. Purchased the behemoth and got it set for the delivery truck for the evening of the same day. Then, of course, we had to dive back in to the store to get all the little extras like lighting and scarf holders and containers for organizing. It was like Disney Land! We frantically rushed home, leaving the store at 4:30pm to try to race the delivery truck back and hopefully beat it. Hodgepodge of events in one night: McCormick and Schmick's, Rob Zombie, Derek Mears, Roger Huerta11/10/2009 Texas caught Drum, yum. We hardly eat at McCormick and Shmick's anymore but we decided to eat there tonight. When you join their little frequent diner club, which Brent did more when he entertained clients, you always get a nice present for your birthday which is a buy-one-get-one-free entree purchase. We've been avoiding using it for quite some time since I won't eat their steaks and Brent thinks it's a waste to go there and have a veggie plate. Duh, I never really thought about the fact that they serve local fish from Texas. So thankfully I was able to order a yummy fish dish and we were all happy. I had blackened drum from Freeport, TX with Texas lump crab. It could have been a little spicier for my taste but it was flavorful and the mashed potatoes and asparagus were perfectly prepared. We had a cute, bubbly server named Rachel who was delightful. So last night we went to a networking event put on by the Young Executives of Austin. This was the second event we have gone to with this group and I it was a blast! It was held at the The Kabaret Room (old part of Speakeasy) with a performance by Mandy Lauderdale.
The Kabaret Room was a pretty cool set up. I can't remember how the old Speakeasy was but the couches and intimacy of the area is really nice. One thing I love about networking events is that it gives me the opportunity to go to bars I might not normally frequent. Tonight we were invited to our friend's place at the AMLI on second street. On our walk over we were pleasantly greeted with the Viva la Vida Fest sponsored by the Mexic-Arte Museum. We didn't go to all of the festivities but it was a pretty cool site! I can't believe we have never strolled through there before; I see it every year but never think to go check it out. They had all kinds of food and music and some really cool/creepy face painting for the kids.
I've been anxious to make it to East Side and visit some of the bars over there that I have heard so much about. Brent and I have been to several restaurants over there such as, Primizie, Blue Dahlia, Ms. B's, and East Side Pies to name a few. There is some great food to be had East of I-35 and I love all the places I have just listed and now it was time to check out some of the night life.
I never realized how close it all is! It's right there and it was busy. I was able to make it to both East Side Show Room and Shangri-La. I went to ESSR first but due to my bad experience it will be at the end of the blog and I'm going to go straight in to raving about Shangri-La! This has taken me a little longer to post about than I had anticipated, but here's the rundown of my ACL experience. First of all, its no secret, it was rainy. I will take rainy any time over the hot dust bowl year where I almost passed out. That was the worst. Of course, like all other Austinites, I am anxious to see how the beautiful Zilker grass recovers from the onslaught of rain, feet stomping, and mud wrestling (ew). We missed out on Sunday because poor Brent got a fever Saturday night. It wasn't Dave Mathews that got him all hot and bothered, its the flu. Wash your hands people, its a nasty one this year! I'm beginning to feel ill and fear I am falling victim to the illness and malaise I have seen him endure over the last few days. Needless to say, this blog is short but I wanted to get it up. Anyways, if you want to see the rundown of the bands I saw and my photos of the event, click here. I know, I know, I was just at Frank earlier in the week; you can see my other blog here. Sometimes you just can't get enough of a great thing though and it was the kickoff event for Flavors of Austin.
Of course your wondering, what is Flavors of Austin? Here's he explanation, directly from their site: FLAVORS of Austin: 52 Week Food Frenzy. FLAVORS of Austin: your chance to experience the best Austin restaurants at the best possible price. Each week we’ll bring you a new featured restaurant offering a discounted, exclusive, multi-course menu. It’s your opportunity to try new restaurants or re-check out your old favorites. Grab some friends and make a night of it! To make it even better, for every dollar you spend at a participating FLAVORS of Austin restaurant, a portion will be given to the Sustainable Food Center of Austin. Everybody has these kind of days... Life just seems too hard. You don't know why you bother to look at the bright side (sigh). Blame PMS, the economy, your inability to lose 5lbs, the G-20 summit in Pittsburgh for not solving the world economic woes yesterday, or the fact that starting a business is well, hard.
Then yesterday something happened, and I found my reason for hope in the oddest place. It was in the form of a gourmet hot dog place, Frank. This was an unexpected rainbow in my obviously down day and in one bite the angel's sang from heaven and light shown down on our small family unit. It was a busy night and my only wish is that there were more hours in this day. After I got home from work, I enjoyed a nice run with cool weather. What a great change, I'm really enjoying this time of year! Then Brent and I hurried to get ready for a quick Happy Hour at Imperia to visit with our friend on leave from Iraq. We then hurried off to the Tribeza fashion show.
It was great to see our friend Josh, he looks great and we can hardly wait for him to come home in December. We hadn't know him for long before he left and he made quite and impression on us with his kind heart and constant smile. I look forward to getting to know him better upon his return. Him and his gal, Jessica, just bought a house! I'm really excited for the both of them and all the good that I am sure is to come their way. |