Wedding Bliss

Hello lovely readers. Where has time gone? Give me a Valentine's weekend and an exam and I have disappeared! As none of the posts I really want to post are actually written, and since wedding season is coming up I shall show you instead the lovely afternoon Brando and I spent

attending the Tribeza Wedding Day at the Driskill Hotel the other weekend. We had so much fun alternately announcing we were engaged, then married, then shocking people with the fact we've been married for ten years. I wish I had a video of their reactions. Thanks to Cori Ryan and The Cupcake Bar for believing us that while we are not engaged, we love to check out any and all of the resources Austin has to offer!

What a wonderful surprise it turned out to be. Tribeza puts on a wedding day annually and it was so upscale, relaxed, and uncrowded, it was an absolute delight to attend. Not to mention the free champagne, ohmigoshtodiefor wedding cake, Driskill created drinks, and seminars on how to pick the perfect photographer, florist, etc. What a perfect place to find out all about how to create the wedding of your dreams!

We were able to meet the delightful wife of the husband and wife owner team of Marquee Events. They have been married 50+ years and and she had nothing but wonderful things to say for us. I wish I could put her in my pocket and have her guide me through life! Her and her husband bought an event service and started Marquee Events on a whim because her husband wasn't happy in his engineering job and her perspective was, why go through life unhappy? Their work is absolutely BEAUTIFUL. I have seen them setting up several times at Laguna Gloria, and Becky told us they have a custom made tent for Laguna Gloria which fits the walkways perfectly and transforms it into an elegant indoors only you're actually outdoors event. If you ever plan a wedding or event and need a tent this is the place to go.

We also, of course, said hi to Cory Ryan, and The Cupcake Bar, both of who had lovely booths. I so wish they had a vendor list so I could tell you who made this delicious wedding cake and rave on the other vendors, but, alas, they do not.

Unfortunately, I do not have any pictures of the vendors. As it was my first time there I was completely enamored with the Driskill itself. The amount of detail

and the modern feel of the place in all it's old-world elegance absolutely captivated me. If I were to have a wedding indoors this would be the place. Actually, if it were to be a small wedding, I'd still have it outdoors on one of their gorgeous balconies.

I did manage to get a picture of their cake, and while Brando's photo was better, I love that I captured the model brides that were walking around in the background in mine.

The cake itself was absolutely divine - my favorite, white chocolate, vanilla, and raspberry. So very moist and perfect. And that's saying a lot for me since I'm not a huge fan of wedding cake.

They even had a scotch room for the men. Though in my opinion if your man resigned to the scotch room you might want to rethink your decision about marrying him in the first place.

Fortunately, for the brides that were there, the room was virtually empty, except for the few picking up a drink and leaving.

After our absolutely enchanting afternoon, Brando and I had a blast walking around the streets of downtown Austin for a moment and enjoying the downtown scenery.

My goofy man.

The view from the Driskill balcony.

A random alleyway.

A serious picture for once.

Sun Drop... Soda?!

Oh my word! I have a soda! Look!

I even have a t-shirt. I think I NEED this t-shirt, along with the Cherry Lemon Soda because of course it's pink. Ish.

Or even this t-shirt.

I even have recipes like Sundrop Pear Pie, Bubbly Sundrop Punch, Sun-Drop Cake, and my favorite the SunBeam. Hilarious. I'm not sure what these recipes say about the health status of the people who drink Sundrop soda, but I have yet to try it so who am I to say.

*Disclaimer: Okay, this really isn't my soda, and oh how I wish they had sent me product. Instead, I overheard of their soda at HOPE Farmer's Market today when a guy mentioned it in passing. How ironic, and of course I had to research the soda the first available moment I had. You can read more about Sundrop soda here as they are formerly owned by Cadbury Schweppes, now owned by Dr. Pepper Snapple.

Updated to add: Since I wrote this post, Sun Drop Soda has made a come back and apparently has it's own very funny commercial with the song "Drop It Like It's Hot". A ton of people have been searching for the Sun Drop shirt. So to be helpful, here is a link to a shirt similar to the girls' shirt in the new commercial here, and another vintage looking shirt here. Unfortunately, the shirts I posted above are no longer available on the site.

Austin Modern Home Tour

Last weekend, Mai, Brando, and I

attended Austin's much-anticipated Modern Home Tour.

***WARNING: Incredibly long post ahead with many, many pictures. On the upside, if you didn't get to attend the Modern Home Tour in Austin this weekend, you will be able to now.

We started out with the most gorgeous house

and view I've seen in Austin.

Imagine swimming in that pool. Hello, view under water.

While Mai felt it was gallery like, I adored the open spaciousness of it

and that it took complete breath-taking advantage of the view,

but that it still felt like a home with touches like the master bedroom wing of the upstairs, the soft, cushy carpeting,

and the deck that stretched forever.

One of the other things I loved most was the utilization of space. While the lot wasn't that big, they somehow managed to squeeze a perfect size frontyard

(Also, the scene that greeted us at a number of houses. Too hilarious not to include)

and backyard onto it

with space to layout right by the pool, and a guest house above the garage besides.

3402 Mount Bonnell

Our second home was a total waste of time. There was nothing modern about it. Pretty sure it was a restored older home. Maybe they are trying hard to sell it? Either way, I definitely think the standards for modern should've been called on this one.

2618 Wooldridge Dr.

The third home competed for my favorite, the first house. In the west campus, the tiny, zen-like home

completely captured my attention. The oatmeal cookies baked fresh by Central Market, who sponsored the home, might've helped,

but I'm 99% sure I would've loved the house any way. The courtyard you walk through to get to the front door created a sense of serenity and privacy unmatched by any of the surrounding homes.

The vintage table with chairs lined up ready for a perfectly warm spring evening sat waiting for a dinner with friends and laughter to fill it.

The bedrooms lined the courtyard,

creating that same peace and serenity the moment you wake up in the morning.

The little touches here and there in the bathroom completed the serenity,

even down to the open, inviting layout of the kitchen

and living room,

again lining the courtyard.

I would move in tomorrow.

2305 Shoal Creek Blvd.

The fourth home was not so much inviting for me. Brando and Mai, on the other hand, both loved it so much I suggested they buy it and move in together, but they didn't go for it.

The solid glass stair well railing,

decking that certainly didn't look, but definitely felt unstable. The unstable feeling was probably partially due to the use of glass rails as well, which, on the upside, did provide a beautiful view

(oh, the cleaning involved). That, combined with the cramped feeling of the kitchen

sans downstairs living room turned me off. Surprisingly, it seemed to be the home I took the most pictures of. The bathrooms were unique,

and the home itself did have a lot of textural appeal,

as well the views from the interior windows and the decks induced a feeling of being out in the country.

The interior design was also one of the prettier interiors on the tour,

and most everything was for sale. But those rails.

They slay me, and not in a good way.

1105 S. 3rd St.

The fifth home was a definite winner in modernism. The wood facade

gave way to an open two story living room with stairs floating to the top.

One of my favorite touches was one of the stairs extended to create a small bench nestled between the kitchen and living room.

I would sit on there to pull my shoes on and off, to contemplate, to take a break from cooking, or just because I wanted to. The upstairs had a strange layout that was a bit of a turn off for Brando and Mai (notice a pattern here? We decided they are buying a house together) where one entire wall running the length of the house was solid, cohesive white doors with storage behind them. Me? I loved that part. So much crap I could hide back there. The master bedroom had a walk in shower. That's right. Walk in shower.

The bathtub and sinks were also in there

and you could pretty much hose the whole thing down with the shower head. There was a walk in interior courtyard adjacent to the shower,

making it possible to open the huge sliding glass door and literally shower in the sunshine and breeze.

Heaven. The toilet had it's own little room with character.

As a side note, the art and decor in this home was cute to look at,

and a sight for sore eyes as some of the homes weren't decorated so much or were intended to be more of a gallery for product than decorated. This house also opened up into a courtyard from every room in the house, which I'm beginning to think I really enjoy that particular design.

702 W. Live Oak

By the sixth home, we were getting a little tired and worn out. Still, across from Big Stacy Park,

it had a perfect active life location. While the downstairs concrete rooms and fountain wasting space in the middle of the hallway

was a turn off, the upstairs was the perfect loft home with wide open spaces,

soaring ceilings,

colored glass sinks and lighting in the bathroom,

and beautiful light wood floors.

Perhaps the bottom was intended for more of an office space than a living space. That would make sense.

2106 Eastside Dr.

The seventh home wasn't scheduled on our stops,

but we were glad we made it. Even though I have no memory of it, even after viewing the pictures. Although, I do remember this.

We were a little tired and delirious at that point. Apparently, other than that, the only interesting aspects of this particular home were the view

and the bathrooms.

2112 Eva St.

The eighth home was probably our second least liked, but also the most modern home.

Cold and difficult to get to, there were two flights of stairs just before entering the home. Beyond that there were three more flights of stairs to catch all the different levels of the home. In a house that small with literally one bedroom per level.

That just seems totally unnecessary, not to mention, completely lacking privacy from the rest of the home. The one redeeming quality and the reason I'm so glad we still made it there was the rooftop deck with gorgeous views of Town, ahem, Lady Bird Lake.

The faux grass could've been replaced with real to make it even more modern, but in all honesty it really seemed like a low budget modern home. The windows were single pane glass. Not very energy efficient, or safe. And the materials used seemed to be of low quality. Still, you have to give them props for creating a modernistic look on a low budget.

2113 Riverview

All in all, I am SOOO glad we went and I can't wait to go next year! ...as long as there are different houses on the list. I wouldn't be so much interested in seeing the same homes again. Also, I would LOOOVE to see more sponsored homes. The baked cookies and cheese spread with crackers at the Central Market home were a welcome relief from the trekking, and would add a nice welcome touch to each home.

Especially the homes who are trying to sell. I'd also suggest a collaborative coffee shop stop along the way for a coffee, water, and restroom break. There were water bottles at each house, but I didn't notice in the midst of perusing the house. Perhaps these could be handed out at the volunteer table. We did end up making a stop along the way for this very reason regardless, but it would've been fun to mingle with other tour attendees as well. Thank you, Matt Swinney, at Launch787 for putting this on! What a feast for the eyes.

**As a disclaimer, my opinion is coming from a completely architecturally uneducated point of view. If an architect has a correction to make or if a home owner a correction of a credit to a picture, I would be more than happy to do so.