Happy New Year and a (belated) Merry Christmas!

One of the highlights of 2011 and one of my favorite Christmas presents for Christmas was meeting Ashley, one of my favorite bloggers. The minute we decided we were heading to Phoenix to visit my Grandma, I knew I would be emailing her to see if she was in town. Turns out she was for two of the days I would be there. We ended up driving to her town, just twenty minutes away from my Grandma's town, to see the Glendale Glitters Christmas Lights. We met her at her house where she greeted us with her sweet barking puppies and "puppy chow" (link to another blogger I've met and love in real life who happens to share a fondness for puppy chow with Shawners and Ashley ;)!) - a yummy chex mix Trav made that I brought home to Shawners who gobbled it up and has been begging for it ever since.

Ashley and I had both already admitted via email that we are shy people until you really get to know us. But I already felt like I knew her via our blogs. She's just one of those people that is easy to know. She also knows me a little more intimately than some bloggers might because she's seen a few more of my personal struggles. So I was crossing fingers we would hit it off as I have with a few of the other bloggers I've met and become lifelong friends with. I had nothing to worry about, because it instantly felt we had known each other for ages. We hugged the instant we met and chatted incessantly from the moment we saw each other. Had our limited schedules not been around, we would have chatted half the night away.

She was so excited about asking Brando about some of his photography tips for her new camera, and Trav was easy to talk to while they talked camera. Actually, Trav was also interested in the camera tips. I had to keep myself from getting distracted, because for some reason when Brando goes to a certain point with talking about camera stuff my head gets all in a muddle and I can't quite follow him anymore. It's almost like I need a notepad so I can take notes to keep up. Regardless, in between photog talks, we snuck some cute, fun pictures and chatted about similar things we are dealing with such as not feeling pretty or cute in photos lately and feeling like we used to be and not knowing what happened! What is with that?! Of course, she is gorgeous in all her photos and so I am crossing my fingers the same is the case with me, but I am so glad to know there is someone out there that feels the same way.

She was off to Indiana to plan her wedding with her family the next day, and I back to my Grandma's where I had an... interesting weekend that I'm not even close to being prepared to write about. I am so excited for her, and am so, SO glad I took the opportunity to meet her! As I told her, I've learned from past experiences, if you pass up the opportunity to meet bloggers when you can that perfect opportunity may not ever come again. Something I didn't say, but have noticed, is that the blog friendship may dwindle, because if that person was an in real life friend you definitely would NOT pass up the opportunity to see them. This hasn't held true for in-town blog friends, but for out of town friends, it seems to have. And I just realized I have not kept up out-of-town blog friendships with a few people who I go nearby and visit sometimes. Little do they know I have SO many people to see, I rarely see everybody. I haven't seen Justinbustin's godmother in five years!! And she lives in my hometown. I need to remedy that!

Merry Christmas and a very Happy New Year

from both of us to all of you and your loved ones!

Here's to an aMAzing 2012!

Volunteering

Giving this mobile posting thing a go:
So many perks to volunteering. The first of which is a huge sense of satisfaction, motivation, and production. Volunteering with my best friend, KT, has the added benefit of three hours of (almost) uninterrupted girlie chat time, plus a celebration lunch of giving back afterwards. On top of all that, we get to enjoy yummy treats like these delicious chocolate covered rice krispy treats of which we used the ribbon ties to make rings out of. I'd post a picture of that, along with a better picture of the rice krispy treat, however I wasn't intending to post them and included brightly colored contact information as the background. Enjoy the thought and if you can figure out how to make them this way on your own, definitely let me know!

Snack Bar with Mai

Mai has been wanting to try the new Snack Bar diner on South Congress. So on Friday to celebrate finals being over AND (double yay!) Mai being back in town we went for breakfast!! Do excuse the just woke up look - that's exactly what we did. What a cute place!

We had so much fun chatting I neglected to take pictures of the inside, so I will save that for next time. But we had an awesome time admiring the easy going but modern, dim lit atmosphere, and choosing from the delicious sounding menu. It's been awhile since I've stepped foot in a vegan and vegetarian inspired cafe. This is probably because the first experience I ever had at one was bland, boring, rabbit food sounding food. Fortunately, this place was the complete opposite. Their menu sounded yummy,

and most of their food lived up to it. Mai ordered the Biscuits with Vegan Tempeh Gravy.

Unfortunately this was a little bland. She immediately reached for the salt and pepper. Her accompanying Veggie Hash Cake tasted a little onioney. Not mind blowing, but not bad. On the other hand my Mini Belgian Waffles were delicious!

The apple chutney I ordered them with was so flavorful with spices, like a winter holiday in a bite.

The coffee is roasted from Owl Tree Roasting here in Austin, Texas, and was smooth as silk with that perfect rich coffee taste without any bitterness. My side of sage pork sausage was also delicious.

Nothing extra special about it, but easily palatable. Overall, I would eat there again (I think Mai would, too!), especially for the cute little atmosphere, and definitely in hopes of finding that one thing to crave that would make me have to go back. Although, the apple chutney and coffee pretty much made that list, especially since my mouth is watering right now just thinking about it.

Austin Tidbits Fall Fete at y&i

Last night got me so excited about posting, I just couldn't give that last post time to soak in! Austin Tidbits (a site I just now discovered while looking up the origins of their event at y&i) threw a Fall Fete this Thursday at y&i - a clothing store on the north end of South Congress I've been dying to visit but just hadn't made it up that far on South Congress yet. Fortunately Dripping Springs offering coffee liquer vodkas,

cosmos, martinis, Mama Fu's amazing basil spring rolls - so light and healthy tasting,

and seared ahi tuna,

made it super easy to get on over there already.

I instantly fell in love with y&i's sweet mix of Texan and California style (yes, that is Mai improving it with both drinks)

and Texan and California prices as well. Read: some items are actually affordable, versus Texan high couture tends to be way overpriced. Yes, that's me saying shopping is WAY more affordable, and WAY more accessibly stylish in Cali than Texas. Thanks, in large part to fashion week and all the amazing women entrepeneurs I'm slowly discovering in town, Texas is definitely on it's way! One of the owners, Robin Boesch, unpretentious attitude and introduction of herself to us was a pleasant surprise. Completely down to earth, and real, and more than happy to discuss the fact she was looking to provide high fashion for a reasonable price.

I love their setup - clean and simple without being too stark.

Just enough product to have more and more to ooh and ahh over at every turn, but not enough to feel overwhelmed.

Speaking of ooohing and ahhhing the gift bags - oh, the gift bags! y&i gave out gift bags to the first fifty customers and Mai, Dani, and I were lucky enough to be one of those first fifty.

Okay, we planned. C'mon now, you know me and crowds better - I like to get there before the crowd and stake my claim, then clearout just as the rest of the world discovers what I've already experienced. We saved checking out the bags for when we got home - tons of Hollywood goodies, bangles, earrings, hair product from Kevin Murphy and Tisa at Salon Aura, as well as a therapy treatment and blowout from Tisa as well. Can't wait to try that out! Other fun things in the bag included Garment Guard, Tip Toes, Gal Pals garment protector, Pocksie, Low Beams, the Strapper, and possibly my favorite - a gift certificate to y&i!! Totally excited to use them all and review them as I do : ) !!

We did decide to sit down and peek thru the loot a little while we were still there,

before we took off for the Austin Tweet Up social!! Yay!

Submerged hosted Austin's Tweet Up social this Thursday evening, which was basically a big social excuse to meet up with Stephanie from Colours Marie again.

We ended up chatting with her most of the night and her sweet boy, Tim,

except for a short break when I snagged Lori at As You Wish doing the photo booth and made us take a picture holding a frame.

After a quick Amy's ice cream run we called it a night, until The September Issue, and dinner tomorrow! If you want to join text me if you have my cell number, or leave a comment with your email address.

Three Weeks Worth

Wow, these last two weeks have been quite a whirlwind. Full time school started for me, we moved into a home and new neighborhood, school started for the boys, not to mention sports, and cub scouts started again. I've met and am attempting to maintain many new relationships, while trying to maintain the old and hanging desperately onto the girls that keep me afloat.

Here is a quick overview of the fun events we've attended the last few weeks. After this, I'm going to start with events happening now! Whee!

Finishing up after Fado's shifty - we carpooled over to Austin's Handmade Event where we always have a blast coveting most of which we can't afford.

A random afternoon lunch at Guero's with Genie - excellent for people watching.

Watching Julie & Julia at the Alamo with Mai and Dilly.

The Alamo's homemade peanut butter cups are AHmazing.

Blu's ultra suave interior. Loved the comfy seating areas combined with cool, clean lines.

Lunch at Blu and shopping Second Street district with Anie. Delicious fresh mozzarella and prosciutto bruschette, chicken, apple, walnut, and bleu cheese salad, and chicken pesto panini. Quite easily one of my favorite restaurants in Austin. Can't wait to try their crepes!

St. Bernard's. I almost died of happiness walking in here. It felt like walking in O'Neill, or Rip Curl in Santa Cruz. All my favorite brands - Roxy, O'Neill, Billabong, Hurley, Volcom, to name a few. Odd thing is they are actually a sports store and the entire back section has work out wear, as well as a side section that has board gear. But the front section is loaded with my kind of wear!

Teuscher Chocolates - imported from Switzerland. Didn't actually try them, as Anie bought coffee here.

My girl, Anie, and I, hopping Second Street and cooling off with smoothies from Froots

Delish!Shakes' Grand Opening with Orange Dreamsicle milkshakes that were delicious! They are on a very hard to see corner on Congress, but if you do happen to spot them and need an afternoon pick me up it's an excellent place to do it!

At Frank's after Delish!Shakes. Help! We're in a phone booth and we can't get out!

What an amazing view of the city from such an unassuming location!

After Delish!Shakes we hit up Frank's hot dog joint for some veggie burgers and yummy waffle fries. Couldn't tell much difference in the Frank's special dipping sauce and buffalo dipping sauce but they were good nonetheless. The veggie dogs were - eh. Not much flavor, but smothered in yumminess they were palpable. Can't wait to go back and try the beef hot dogs!

At Parts & Labour's trunk show. Oh my word, these little s'mores in the center behind the square brownie bites, were completely irresistible. The melt in your mouth chocolate, combined with the sweet, perfectly gooey marshmallow and crunchy graham cracker, had all of us eating way more than we should have.

Parts & Labour threw one of my most favorite bashes ever as a trunk show with Dripping Springs Vodka and pink lemonade, Blue Note Bakery desserts, and chair massages (Mai had to experience her first one!). Mai, Dani, and I unanimously agreed that we liked EVERYthing in their store. All handmade, all by local artists, and all very high quality. I loved their cute little set ups and displays for it all as well. Dani and I both winning prizes sweetened the deal even further.

Yay! Kiley came with to join us for a Saturday! We ate at yummy Polvos.

Then, Erin and David joined us and we hit up Sugar Mama's for their 1st Birthday celebration. They gave away free cupcakes, but they were vegan and very dry. I'd heard about their awesome real cupcakes from Mai, though, so Dani and I bought one with cream cheese icing and it was oh. so. yummy. and oh. so. moist. I loved the little creek area behind the store and can imagine sitting there on a cool fall day eating my cupcake and swinging my feet over the ledge.

We chilled a little while at Mai's where I found this pretty church,

before heading on over to Austin Flash Mob's Annual Pillow Fight at the Bat Bridge.

The crazy scene unfolds... this first one is my favorite.

That would be all five of us with Mai ducking in the middle protecting herself from possibly Dani, Erin, and I. David was defenseless, but joined in the fun any way.

Being attacked by Mai. It was scary.

The scene unfolds.

The onlookers on the bridge look on. Possibly quite bewildered.

And that is my last three weeks in one neat little *cou-big-gh* post. Soon to come is our adventures this evening at y&i boutique - an event I'm so eager to post about that it motivated me to get the rest of the month updated!