Honky Tonks and Harry Potter

Yesterday I lost my job. I didn't enjoy it all that much to begin with and I was let go for non-personal reasons (they needed full time and I was only part time), so while upset, I'm not devastated. To make me feel better, Kevin and I met up at this tiny little honky tonk called Ginny's Little Longhorn to watch his co-worker play with his classic country band, songs once played by the likes of Hank Williams, Merle Haggard, and Elvis Presley.

A regular who plays in this honky tonk is this local guy named Dale Watson. Here's a video of him in Austin in the 90s. Both he and Austin have done a lot of growing up in the last twenty years. haha.

 

This is pretty much what Austin looks like now, but as you can tell with the construction, they're still building. The capital is behind those buildings.

Exhausted from the day, we went to sleep around 12:30. Another terrible side effect was that I've grown so used to that work schedule that I woke up at 8 am this morning. Luckily Kevin was up too so we went hat shopping. Kevin ordered this hat and then we went to his house and watched the fourth Harry Potter movie since I've only seen up to the third one. It was epic of course.

My friend Serena just came over and now I'm going to put on a pretty dress and some thick tights and go dancing. :)

P.S. I forgot to mention that earlier at band practice, our guitarist and our drum player, both named Ray, showed up dressed like this... on accident.

Lately

I've been so busy lately. First I got really sick and was pretty much asleep for a whole week, and now the semester is ending so I've been busy with papers and studying. In between all of that, I've taken breaks to pretty much buy postcards and stamps and go dancing.

First off, I really need to find somewhere in Austin where I can buy cool postcards. These are from the Barnes and Noble here and they were literally all they had. Thank goodness they were cool looking because I needed a bunch of postcards as I had fallen behind and didn't have any going through the mail.

From a set of historical photos of Round Rock, the neighboring town ten minutes from me. I also bought sets of classic cartoon stamps and western film superstars. 

Now that I have a steady paycheck again, I'm trying to treat myself to going out more often. I need nights to go out and blow off steam or my stress levels get ridiculous. I think a lot of it comes from being a Sagittarius, haha. I've been going out dancing with my friend Serena a bunch and it makes me so happy. This bar downtown, on Thursday nights, plays all oldies and the dance floor is packed. Its pretty amazing. Of course, I work at 8 am on Fridays so I'm pretty exhausted all day but with a nap after work and a persevering attitude, its totally worth it. I just need a job where I get to have a three day weekend. Then my problems would be solved I think. haha.

Serena and I getting our dance on Thanksgiving night

In addition to dancing, earlier this week Kevin and I went to see one of his co-worker's band play at this tiny honky tonk. They played classic country, a ton of Hank Williams and Conway Twitty. It was so fun.

And for the past few days and in the few days to come, I'm dogsitting for one of my mom's friends. I can't get enough of this freaking dog. He's such a grumpy old man, I love him

 

Spencer.

Tomorrow night, Kevin and I are going to see Justin Townes Earle! I'm so pumped. It's going to be amazing. <333

Bull Creek

Saturday afternoon, Brandon and I met up with my friend Ellie at her dad's house in Bull Creek for a barbecue and genuinely fun summer evening in the creek. We got there and filled a plate with her dad's brisket, sausage, and venison. I had never ever in my life ever had venison before but I was feeling particularly brave that day so I tried it. It was pretty good! Of course, the whole time my brain is like "hmm, this is pretty good", it's also saying "this is deer. this is deer. you're eating deer. this is deer." but overall, I'm glad I tried it. haha.

After we finished eating, Ellie came up to the house from the creek to get more beer to bring back down to everyone else and decided to drive the four wheeler down there so we could take more beer with us. She asked if I wanted to ride on it and of course I said hell yes. Having never been on a four wheeler before, I assumed I would sit in the back and hold on for dear life as she drove us through the woods, but she was fully confident in that I could drive it, without ever having been on it before. haha. But, after about a minute of explanation on how to switch gears and everything, we were on our way! I drove around the field past the horses, then into the woods we went! It was so fun flying over rocks and tree roots and trying not to slam into bushes. It was especially fun to drive through the creek and into the woods on the other side. We drove up to everyone at the creek, parked the ATV and waded into the creek. The weather was great and the water was even nicer.

Brandon had never been on a hammock before (weird, right?) and decided to attempt the feat. At first, he was alright, but after swinging slightly and losing his balance, he tumbled into the water. Fully clothed. Twice. Here are some action shots.

After it got too dark to swim, and after everyone had been soaked by Brandon's battle with the hammock, we walked back up to the house and played a few games of pool and finished off the beer. Overall, it was such a fun day/night. I really hope we're able to go back soon. Living life simply is so wonderful.

Urban Exploring

One of my favorite things to do in a town is to find random neighborhoods and just explore, eat, shop, and take pictures. Austin is a great city for this because each neighborhood here has a distinct feel to it that separates it from the next few blocks down the road. One of my favorite people to explore around Austin with is my old co-worker, Mason.

He knows absolutely everything about this city. His list of weird and amazing restaurants and shops seems almost endless and he's very much a fly-by-the-seat-of-his-pants kind of guy so we hop from place to place for hours. A few days ago we went to see The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo at the Dobie Theatre on the UT campus (Amazing movie, btw). Most people would allow 3 hours for a movie excursion: drive time, snack bar time, preview time, movie time, drive time. We gave it 6 hours, with only the slight adventure of getting snow cones added to our itinerary, we were certain it would turn into a bigger exploration and we needed more time to allot.

First, we went to dinner at House Pizza. This restaurant was wonderful. Its casual but has a strong hint of elegance instilled in the details. The napkins were cloth and quite sturdy as opposed to silky, which who needs silk when wiping cheesy grease from your lips? Good thinking guys. Water is served to you in a chilled glass corked bottle, along side tiny toast glasses. The paint was bright and eye catching, alerting your senses and increasing your sensitivity to your surroundings and eventually, your food. The tables were a beautiful dark wood grain and the hanging lamps were cloth, providing little light but a great amount of mood setting. Mason and I ordered a Margarita Extra which is a Margarita pizza made with Mozzarella from water buffalo milk. I was intrigued and a bit terrified at the same time, but I enjoyed it a lot. With two Mexican Coca-Colas to compliment the pizza, the meal was terrific. 

  

    

After pizza, we walked around the corner to get snow cones. Following a mildly horrifying experience with a bee crawling across my stomach, I bolted towards the sidewalk where I smoked a cigarette and yelled my order across the short lawn to the woman behind the counter, apologizing and being riddled with anxiety. Mason kindly and bravely walked through the bee crossing between the order window and the sidewalk and brought me my tamarind snow cone. It was delicious, thank god, because I would have been upset if I went through that experience all to get a mediocre snow cone. But such was not the case. 

After snow cones, we walked around the neighborhood for a bit before it was time to head to campus to see the movie. In all the times I've walked past the Dobie Mall, I've never actually been in there before. It was kind of cool. Its not really much of a mall from what I could tell, but they did have a food court that smelled really good. haha. The movie theatre was really cool. There are only four theatres and they are each themed different. Our movie was apparently in the least favorite of the four, the Art Deco room. It wasn't really decorated hardly at all. I did catch a peek into the Egyptian room on my way to the bathroom though and it looked awesome. There is also apparently a library themed room and one with gargoyles? I'll definitely be heading back here to check out the other rooms and a few movies I'm looking forward to. Namely, The Killer Inside Me. Nothing like sexy Casey Affleck and psycho killers.

Tonight, I'm going to my friend Ellie's parents' ranch near Bull Creek for a barbecue. I think there will be a bonfire and we can pet the horses and ride around on the ATVs and drink. I'm quite looking forward to it! Pictures to follow.