A Visit to the Past? Why, Yes, It Is

I'll freely admit this is a repost of last year's Spring Break. Only because I have not gotten to our insanely wonderful Spring Break trip this year. Enjoy! And if you're anywhere near Pismo Beach in California, you won't regret visiting Sycamore Springs.

For a rundown of the whole trip and links to other activities from our vacation, go here.

Our first day in Pismo Beach we hit up the natural mineral springs hot tubs in Avila Beach at Sycamore Mineral Springs Resort. Brando had the brilliant idea of splurging on massages beforehand. Generally they have you use the hot tubs beforehand, but because we were headed to dinner afterwards and Brando wanted to make sure we could rinse the massage off, he insisted we use them afterwards. Fortunately, Ashley (oh I hope that's her name!) at Sycamore Mineral Springs was kind enough to make sure we would have one afterwards as she knew they were not booked at all for the Friday afternoon.

We arrived for our massages and entered the cute little gift shop area,

and then through a walkway to our massage area. We were met in the lobby by Ashley and sent back to change in the lush bathrooms.

Once changed into our robes we headed to our beautiful private couples massage room.

I love the details adorning the door handles.

The entire grounds surrounding the massage room were stunning.

Inside the rooms you could hear the birds tweeting outside.The ceilings were open at one time when the rooms were private jacuzzi rooms and now have gorgeous wood covering them giving them an open airy feeling. The black curtain appears to be used to separate the two massage tables.After our fantastic massages (wish I could remember the names of the masseuses),

we headed straight up to our private outdoor natural mineral springs jacuzzi. The walk itself was lush green, and gorgeous. When we got to our stairs that had the sign directing us to our hot tub,

I absolutely LOVEd that we had a private little walkway to our very own hot tub.

The views of the other hot tubs through the trees was beautiful.

Once we got to our own little place (as you can see, I couldn't be bothered to stop walking to take the picture, thus the blur of action)

we were relieved to see no one could be looking down on us from above.

Brando hopped in right away.

An hour or so of soaking,

taking fun photos,

and taking in the beauty surrounding us, we leisurely headed back to the main shop area to walk around.

We had seen a purple tree orchard and a sign for a labyrinth on the way in, so now was the perfect time to check it out before the sun set.

The labyrinth was mesmerizing.

Yes, I attempted to walk it, but gave up after the first 5 minutes as were on our way to dinner to see my childhood best friend. The purple tree orchard was my priority any way, with it's gorgeous blossoms and volcanic mountains in the background.

Stunning. I love how relaxed my smile looked and felt after the massages and soak.

SXSW Free Event: Glomper Recharge Event

After you've added the below FREE event to your calendar, check out my SXSW Guide.

If you're a local, you know that there are many, many free SXSW events around. So many you may not even have to pay for a badge to be fully occupied. And if you're not, shhhh, don't tell anyone I told you.  If you're marking your calendars now, make sure to put this one on for this awesome free SXSW event this Sunday, March 11th, from 3-7pm at Launch787 next to Moonshine Bar & Grill hosted by my amazing friend, Mai.

Free drinks from Sweet Leaf Iced Tea, Graham's Texas Teas, Treaty Oak Rum, Waterloo Gin, and High Voltage, free food from the super yummy and popular Verts from the Austin Gypsy Picnic, and a photo booth by Generation Domination. Located next to Moonshine Bar & Grill @Launch787. What more could you ask for? Perfect event to stop by to recharge from the weekend's festivities! RSVP not required, but you can RSVP here or on facebook. Go, and, if you see Mai, tell her I sent you!

Also, if you are out and about during SXSW and you find yourself in need of a pedicab, look for the Glomper branded ones and pedicabs wearing Glomper shirts, they'll give you a free ride! 

Here is the media release from my girlfriend with more information on the financiers and creators of a super fun app behind the event, Glomper - see the last paragraph for a chance to become part of the beta group for Glomper:

I'm working with a group making a new geosocial service called glomper. Glomper is designed to help you easily find out what your friends and people nearby are up to tonight, involve into their activities and share your own. Both mobile (iOS & Android) and web versions available to let you always stay updated about your friends' plans, opinions, favorite TV shows, etc. You can tag people in posts/ events and assign location. Social (co-)check-ins can be cross-posted to FB or Twitter. The service is in the closed beta now and will be launched officially at SXSW.

Our mobile app is strongly event-focused - it is more about partying, planning parties and easy adding photos/ videos from a party and comments on them to the appropriate "event". We are planning to focus on that one for SXSW as we know it is a hot issue how to spend your spare time during off-hours.

Here is some screenshots of what we already have and I will try to describe what is to be there soon.

- Place page is a page you would get to by clicking at any location tag within the service. This kind of page has all the info about social activities performed at chosen location - it contains all events that took place there, all people who checked in and all pictures they posted.

- Explore page. This one has everything which is going on nearby - all posts, checkins, pictures, events. You can view them within a list as well as on an interactive map.

As for mobile app - you will see all the events nearby by type/date and you will be able to share your plans to visit them before they have started and then to check-in when you have arrived. Path-looking like interface will help you to share photos/emotions/updates from the event easily.

We aren't trying to compete with foursquare or facebook for check-ins, just integrate with twitter, FB, instagram for all-in-one access to a stream of people's photos so you can see where you want to head to or what cool thing is happening on that date/time. You don't even have to integrate with other social networks, it can be silent as well. We are similar to Glancee or highlight in the sense that you can find who of your friends are nearby and where you should go, I think the interface is a bit more user friendly for both droid and iOs, and again, it is more event focused.

We have an event planned on Mar. 11, at the Launch787 space from 3-7 next to Moonshine bar and grill. Hopefully you can come and learn about the app and use it for the rest of interactive events you plan on going to. If you are interested, we can send you a beta version of the app to try. It's in closed beta and I'm using it on my droid and it's pretty awesome, hopefully you can be some of the first to use it and beta test it during SXSW. Any feedback would be appreciated so let me know if you want me to send you a link to the app when we launch it and twitter.com/glompr would probably be the fastest way to reach me if you are having probs with the app during SXSW. The party invite link is http://www.glomper.eventbrite.com .

For My Son Who Inspires Me

Dear friends,

Shawn has been running in a running club for the past two years. Now, he has decided to run in a fun run next week for his school that will provide their school playground with a shade covering for these hot Texas days. 

His goal is to run 25-35 laps. Will you make a pledge to support him?

Let me know by leaving a comment or messaging me with your pledge per lap or flat donation amount and email address and you will receive a confirmation email. He'll let you know when he's completed his run next week and you can pay for his completed laps by check or online for a $2 processing fee due by March 20th.

Tomorrow, March 2nd, is the deadline for his pledges. If 21 people can each pledge $1 per lap he will meet his goal for pledges.

Thanks in advance. I wish I had the dedication he does for this and love supporting him in his passion for running.


Rose

Sunday Fun Day

Yesterday, Brando and I attended the Austin Monthly Bridal Bash with my girlfriend and her fiancee.

Side note: How hot is my husband? He's prepping for surgery for his sinuses and has been taking Prednisone to prep (an awful drug along with 90% of drugs in my opinion, but him being able to smell again for the first time in eight years has balanced out my worries) which has completely cleared up his sinuses and has even made his face look different - less swollen and puffed up.

I was sort of expecting a Tribeza type bridal event like Brando and I are used to and were so inspired by, but I'm sad to say it was nothing like it. The tickets were a lot less expensive, and that must make the difference. Unfortunately, I'm not even sure they pulled it off well for the price of the tickets. There were three aisles and the center aisle had a strange inward triangular setup that left some of the booths crowded in the center facing each other with barely enough room to walk in between. There was a lot of bumping into each other at the end of our time there and I am glad we came early before there were so many people in such a crowded space. There were a few booths at the end that were completely uncrowded, which I thought was strange to have them there when the space could've been used to make a more free flowing area for all the booths. Then, there was a gentleman's lounge that perhaps could have been better utilized for more booth space as well to allow more space to walk around. As it is, the gentlemen's lounge was almost unnecessary as there were enough cupcakes and other treats as you walked around to keep most gentlemen happy.

Any way, this wasn't meant to be a review of it, but that's how it went down. We had a blast, any way, til' we had a beer just before we left and our stomachs hurt from the over-carbonation of the Miller Lite. We knew it was the beer and not the freshest yummiest gummy bears ever, because my girlfriend was the only one who didn't drink though she ate the gummy bears as did I and her stomach was fine.

Later in the evening, after I laid out at home for a few hours (love Austin weather!), Brando and I went on a date to the Cheesecake Factory. The evening was perfect to sit outside underneath the gas heaters. Brando had already eaten at home, so I ordered a few fun appetizers, fried zucchini, my favorite, and an oh so delicious gorgonzola, pear, and arugula flatbread.

I also ordered hot tea which felt so quaint with the honey, lemon, and basket of bread next to it.

We enjoyed the quiet patio until it slowly filled up at Austin's normal dinner time - 7pm. Since we already ate, we were happily on our way by the time it got too crowded.

Love the Paris cafe feel and lighting of this photo

A gratuitous photo of Brando and I at the bridal event and I'm off for the day!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Looking for things to do in Austin, whether you live here, are visiting, or maybe even looking for things to do in Austin while at SXSW aka South by Southwest? Check out this treasure cove of things to do in Austin from GSD&M's Pinterest. My Valentine gift to you! Don't miss my own collection of favorite things to do in Austin, as well.

Image created with Red Stamp

The photos above are perfect for this post as the first two are in Austin, and the third, TSR, is a short twenty minute drive south to New Braunfels. From top to bottom: hiking at Commons Ford Ranch, symphony at Zilker Hillside Theatre, and wake boarding at Texas Ski Ranch. TSR also offers wake boarding, helicopter rides, sphere rides an indoor trampoline park, and ATV riding!

Moments of My Week

I love seeing other people's Instagram feed posts, so I thought I'd do my own. These are from the last two weekends and this last week.

 

1. Being 'pinned' by my Star Scout. SO PROUD OF HIM.

2. Breakfast made by my boys and I - Shawners made blueberry and chocolate chip pancakes, Justinbustin made oven-baked bacon, and I made the eggs.

3. Sunday brunch and shopping date with my man

4. Flowers from two separate occasions from my man -

the small one while we were on a date, and the gerberas just because

5. Black Forest and white chocolate raspberry macarons at La Patisserie with Mai

6. Strawberries and cupcake wine on a lazy Sunday afternoon

7. Valentine's chocolate strawberry cupcakes from Lick It Bite It or Both

8. And last but not least, puppy chow made with Shawners - he hasn't forgotten about it after Ashley gave us puppy chow in Arizona

Heywood Hotel Grand Opening

Heywood Hotel is the East Side's first boutique hotel in Austin. Mai and I were able to spend a day together the other day doing what we love best - exploring Austin. Attending the grand opening of this absolutely adorable hotel Mai has been following the progress of and recommending friends stay here for awhile was one of the things on our agenda. And what a cute place it was! Excuse the iPhone quality photos. Fortunately, the sun was shining so beautifully and each room was so full of light that most of the places photographed just fine.

Mai and I enjoyed fresh hibiscus lemonade then perused the open rooms complete with local artists' works from the local art to the pillows, and chose our favorites. As I was going through my photos, I realized I obsessed over the many skylights which made the entire experience in each space feel light and airy, one of the architectural genius touches of this place. 

 Please note the photo above is a 360 degree panorama to show the decorating and finishing details and not an accurate or to scale architectural representation of this particular room.

 One of the enclosed patios with an open air skylight streaming in sunlight over head.

 A bathtub and open shower with an enclosed skylight letting the light flood in.

 Another gorgeous skylight. 

After we had seen all of the gorgeously architect-ed, styled and surprisingly affordable rooms, we again walked upstairs to the peaceful open air upstairs courtyard.

 

As you walk up the stairs to the open air courtyard and upstairs rooms

 Photo credit for the above photo goes to the lenders for Heywood, Capital CDC. Included because Mai and I are in the photo. That's me, in the bright orange and hot pink dress, and Mai in the navy and white.

 We sat down to enjoy the gourmet cheese and fruit spread with spicy pecan brownies in that same courtyard,

before the owners, Kathy and George gave a little talk. The architect from KRDB, Chris Krager, spoke first. Note: May be boring, but totally fascinating to me information ahead on the architectural work, design, and pure tenaciousness it took to make this place.

He talked about how his colleagues and he joked that this project was tougher than the Austonian as they managed to fit SO much into such a small space - the average lot size of a house in East Austin. He also spoke about how, in turn, it was such a rewarding project because they did find that they could do so much in such a small area.

Council Member Mike Martinez spoke how he was in support of the project from day one, supporting Kathy and George's dream to bring a boutique hotel to the East Side.

My favorite though, was hearing Kathy talk about her dream that has been in the works for three years, how they sunk all their savings into it, the support of her and her husband's parents, and, most of all, the support of her husband, George.

Hearing her speak was so inspiring. She talked about how amazed she was at the things her husband did throughout the process that she didn't even realize he was capable of and the new found admiration and respect she had for him out of that. She thanked her husband for supporting her, believing in her more than she did, and, most of all, for keeping her sane.

Her references made me laugh at how similar their relationship sounds to Brando's and I, but they have accomplished SO MUCH. Gives me hope and inspiration that one day Brando and I will accomplish as much as well. Her words of advice for following your dreams, which I loved, were, "Find someone who believes in your dream and you as much, or more, than you do." Then, "Be tenacious." The people she found to believe in her dream was the architect she hired, the councilman, and most of all, her husband. Then, her husband spoke about how he was so proud of her and all of her hard work over the last three years. He spoke about how amazed he was when she branched off into areas of expertise she'd never worked in before and blew it out of the water. He mentioned how none of this would have happened if not for her. Their story was such a sweet love story of working together and accomplishing your dreams that left me totally inspired, and even more in love with their now finished project, the Heywood Hotel.