One last adventure before I run off to do errands:
this was a little while ago but it is so worth talking about. A few weekends ago I get off work and meet up with a bunch of people at Jackalope downtown. It's a huge bar with an outdoor patio in the back PLUS they serve food, always a plus. After Jackalope we decide to walk east on 6th Street to Shangri La. Upon reaching Shangri La we realize that the door guy won't let Nyla in. Expired passports apparently don't count as ID for some, which is just rude. Honestly, I'm not the hugest Shangri La fan though....so I wasn't exactly bent out of shape. Onward we walk, heading east towards Rio Rita when suddenly we come upon a group of dancing people. In a large parking lot there stands a DJ, a fire pit, a little tent with margaritas and a pod of people who are dancing their hearts out. One beckons for us to come in and I just can't say no. I did some investigating and learned that this tiny corner on East 6th St is owned by one of the dancing girls. They have a noise permit, hence the DJ, but they don't have a liquor license which MEANS the liquor is 'donation only.' They can't really charge you for it. Technically you could get away with just drinking their vat of margaritas for free. It turned into a marvelous evening though. We danced, we drank margaritas, we warmed ourselves by the fire pit. It was almost like something that Alice might have come upon in Alice In Wonderland....magic
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Monday, November 16, 2009
Bats and Trannies!
Two quick updates:
Yesterday on the way to work I was crossing the South Congress bridge, which happens to house Austin's own population of Mexican Free Tail Bats. For those of you who don't know, Austin's bat population is the largest urban bat population in the US. So I'm driving on the bridge and this idiot is stopping in the middle of the bridge! Just slowed his car down and stopped.....so I'm letting loose the string of curse words that I usually use when driving in Austin and then I notice that the bats are flying out from under the bridge! This is a big deal. Hundreds of people gather daily on and around the bridge to see the bats fly out at dusk. I'd seen them before but this was by far my greatest viewing. It wasn't a cloud of bats, it was like a black path of bats through the sky. So. Cool.
In other news: Leslie, our resident Austin trannie, came in to the cafe yesterday to have a drink! Guess he's ok and won't be spending the rest of his life in a nursing home! Also, turns out that the community all pitched in and paid for him to have brain surgery. Pretty cool stuff, Austin.
Yesterday on the way to work I was crossing the South Congress bridge, which happens to house Austin's own population of Mexican Free Tail Bats. For those of you who don't know, Austin's bat population is the largest urban bat population in the US. So I'm driving on the bridge and this idiot is stopping in the middle of the bridge! Just slowed his car down and stopped.....so I'm letting loose the string of curse words that I usually use when driving in Austin and then I notice that the bats are flying out from under the bridge! This is a big deal. Hundreds of people gather daily on and around the bridge to see the bats fly out at dusk. I'd seen them before but this was by far my greatest viewing. It wasn't a cloud of bats, it was like a black path of bats through the sky. So. Cool.
In other news: Leslie, our resident Austin trannie, came in to the cafe yesterday to have a drink! Guess he's ok and won't be spending the rest of his life in a nursing home! Also, turns out that the community all pitched in and paid for him to have brain surgery. Pretty cool stuff, Austin.
Thursday, November 12, 2009
Yes! I am Melissa....Garcia
How could I possibly go so long without telling of the amazing adventures I've been having? Oh, maybe it's because I never have any spare time and the spare time that I do have is spent sleeping. But I'll do my best to tell you of all the new places I've discovered. Starting with yesterday and working backwards of course.
Yesterday was my only day off...ever. Around 3 I went in to work for a wine tasting. (Usually reserved for the servers...but I went anyways). We tried an excellent Chilean cabernet (Montes Alpha is the name) and a less excellent cabernet from California called Dynamite and that was it.....leaving my good friend Molly and me wanting more. So! We set out in search of the best happy hours around South Congress. First we headed to The Woodland. A former hostess and friend from SOCO Cafe works there now so we got to catch up with her while we had the most delicious drinks of all time. I got a French 75 which is becoming quite the hip and cool drink around these parts. This particular version was a mix of gin, champagne and lemon juice. It was perfectly refreshing and a dollar off due to happy hour! The food looked really good as well. A girl near us got Fish n' Chips and the fish was easily the size of a small child. There is absolutely no way to eat there and only consume a healthy amount of food. I am up for the challenge.
After The Woodland we wandered back north to the Snack Bar. One of the expos at SOCO Cafe is working as a manager so she came out and said hello (they close at 4 so we couldn't go in). Word on the street though is that this place hasn't really gotten their stuff together. Apparently some people came into our cafe recently and said that they had been at Snack Bar and left after waiting 45 minutes for food that never came. Yikes. We parted ways with The Snack Bar and headed to Botticelli's. I've walked past this little place a million times, noted how fancy it looked, and moved on. What the fancy looking front doesn't tell you is that there is an adorable patio out back. There was a small stage with a man playing his guitar and excellent happy hour specials ($2 Mexican beers, which doesn't really make sense since it's an Italian place). Apparently the food is good too, although again we didn't try anything big. I did get to try their Botticelli Bread which was bread dough wrapped around sliced meat, cheese and more and then baked. It was excellent. Someday when I work 45 hours a week PAID I will go there and eat more Italian food then is humanly possible.
The most important adventure of the evening: the Mexican American cultural party. This party was held at the Mexican American Cultural Center that I accidentally stumbled upon somewhere on Cesar Chavez and Rainey (maybe?) Anyways, Molly was on the RSVP list and with some quick thinking on her part, so was I. For the rest of the evening I became Melissa Garcia. Apparently Melissa Garcia's life is grand because the party was sponsored by Grey Goose. That translates to FREE Grey Goose, by the way. Sadly, I had to be at the internship at 8am and thus had to leave the flowing supply of Grey Goose much too early.
Well, once again my time is cut short by work. I'm still very far behind and have loads of adventures to tell you about including a magical parking lot called Cheer Up Charlie's. Get excited.
Yesterday was my only day off...ever. Around 3 I went in to work for a wine tasting. (Usually reserved for the servers...but I went anyways). We tried an excellent Chilean cabernet (Montes Alpha is the name) and a less excellent cabernet from California called Dynamite and that was it.....leaving my good friend Molly and me wanting more. So! We set out in search of the best happy hours around South Congress. First we headed to The Woodland. A former hostess and friend from SOCO Cafe works there now so we got to catch up with her while we had the most delicious drinks of all time. I got a French 75 which is becoming quite the hip and cool drink around these parts. This particular version was a mix of gin, champagne and lemon juice. It was perfectly refreshing and a dollar off due to happy hour! The food looked really good as well. A girl near us got Fish n' Chips and the fish was easily the size of a small child. There is absolutely no way to eat there and only consume a healthy amount of food. I am up for the challenge.
After The Woodland we wandered back north to the Snack Bar. One of the expos at SOCO Cafe is working as a manager so she came out and said hello (they close at 4 so we couldn't go in). Word on the street though is that this place hasn't really gotten their stuff together. Apparently some people came into our cafe recently and said that they had been at Snack Bar and left after waiting 45 minutes for food that never came. Yikes. We parted ways with The Snack Bar and headed to Botticelli's. I've walked past this little place a million times, noted how fancy it looked, and moved on. What the fancy looking front doesn't tell you is that there is an adorable patio out back. There was a small stage with a man playing his guitar and excellent happy hour specials ($2 Mexican beers, which doesn't really make sense since it's an Italian place). Apparently the food is good too, although again we didn't try anything big. I did get to try their Botticelli Bread which was bread dough wrapped around sliced meat, cheese and more and then baked. It was excellent. Someday when I work 45 hours a week PAID I will go there and eat more Italian food then is humanly possible.
The most important adventure of the evening: the Mexican American cultural party. This party was held at the Mexican American Cultural Center that I accidentally stumbled upon somewhere on Cesar Chavez and Rainey (maybe?) Anyways, Molly was on the RSVP list and with some quick thinking on her part, so was I. For the rest of the evening I became Melissa Garcia. Apparently Melissa Garcia's life is grand because the party was sponsored by Grey Goose. That translates to FREE Grey Goose, by the way. Sadly, I had to be at the internship at 8am and thus had to leave the flowing supply of Grey Goose much too early.
Well, once again my time is cut short by work. I'm still very far behind and have loads of adventures to tell you about including a magical parking lot called Cheer Up Charlie's. Get excited.
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
Fall Romance at the SOCO Cafe
So yesterday, as I eavesdropped on the table nearest the hostess stand (as hostesses tend to do, trust me), my eavesdropping paid off. It was a young man in his 20s with an older couple. As I listened in, the young man asked the couple if he could have permission to marry their daughter. I of course got all giggly and excited for them and had to walk to the back and giggle by myself for awhile. When I went back up to the host stand I got to listen to him talk about how their daughter made his life amazing and changed it forever for the better and helped him love God more etc etc blah blah blah. The best part: apparently he's not from Austin. He had secretly flown in from wherever just to ask!!!!! (The fiancee thinks he went to Colorado!!!!) Hope that little ditty makes you feel kinda warm and fuzzy. It sure made me a giggly, smiley mess.
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
I've Found the Chupacabra
I have a new Monday night spot. Not that I had a Monday night spot before...but now I do. There's this new bar on 6th and Trinity. Last Monday my partner in crime and I decided that margaritas were needed to get us through the week. We headed downtown with no destination in mind and came upon this new bar: Chupacabra.*** I'd been in once before, but just briefly. Because the chupacabra is an extremely awesome name (see explanation below), we decided it was the place for us. In we went, where we somehow managed to have an amazing time. The bartender was friendly and we all watched a really horrible zombie movie (Quarantine) while drinking delicous margaritas. Blackberry margarita = the best invention ever. Needless to say, we returned this Monday for more. Swamp Thing was on, which we watched with glee. Eddie, the bartender, chatted with us about life while we drank our margaritas (as bartenders tend to do). He forced us to try his homemade margaritas this time, as opposed to the pre-made frozen ones. They were very excellent, mainly because they were free. So go see Eddie, he's a very good man.
In other news: last night I was extremely hip and cool and Austiny. One of the former film graduate students that I know from when I worked in the film department on my campus made a documentary about Jack Rebney. If you will recall, Jack Rebney is this man:
Well, last night the movie, Winnebago Man, was being shown so that Ben, the director of the film, could raise some money for a movie release. It was a really brilliant movie following Ben as he searches for Jack (20 years after the famous Winnebago commercial was found) and then follows them as they basically just interact. It was brilliantly shot, Jack Rebney is still a curmudgeon, and there were even a few touching parts. I won't tell you more though, because you have to go and see it when it comes out in theaters all around the world...it's just that good. In fact, Ben and his fellow filmmakers are taking it on a tour around Europe in November. The most exciting part of the evening: during the Q&A after the film, Jack Rebney called and answered questions for us. THE Winnebago Man....speaking just for us! It was amazing. Anyways, I'm off to bed. Be prepared for some Halloween adventures this weekend!
***For those who don't know, the Chupacabra is a creature that is similar to the Loch Ness monster or Big Foot in that it is never actually seen, just spoken about. Chupacabra means "goat sucker" and apparently it's this little demon lookin' thing that lives in Mexico/South Texas. I often picture it being mildly comical, like a Disney character. See here for more indepth info.
In other news: last night I was extremely hip and cool and Austiny. One of the former film graduate students that I know from when I worked in the film department on my campus made a documentary about Jack Rebney. If you will recall, Jack Rebney is this man:
Well, last night the movie, Winnebago Man, was being shown so that Ben, the director of the film, could raise some money for a movie release. It was a really brilliant movie following Ben as he searches for Jack (20 years after the famous Winnebago commercial was found) and then follows them as they basically just interact. It was brilliantly shot, Jack Rebney is still a curmudgeon, and there were even a few touching parts. I won't tell you more though, because you have to go and see it when it comes out in theaters all around the world...it's just that good. In fact, Ben and his fellow filmmakers are taking it on a tour around Europe in November. The most exciting part of the evening: during the Q&A after the film, Jack Rebney called and answered questions for us. THE Winnebago Man....speaking just for us! It was amazing. Anyways, I'm off to bed. Be prepared for some Halloween adventures this weekend!
***For those who don't know, the Chupacabra is a creature that is similar to the Loch Ness monster or Big Foot in that it is never actually seen, just spoken about. Chupacabra means "goat sucker" and apparently it's this little demon lookin' thing that lives in Mexico/South Texas. I often picture it being mildly comical, like a Disney character. See here for more indepth info.
Saturday, October 17, 2009
A Bit Of Everything
This is going to be more of a photo collage of my past few weekends then stories...mainly because I can't remember all the details. Here we go....
ACL weekend we headed to Club DeVille to see TBird and the Breaks. Buuuuut they played inside and we didn't see them because we were too busy listening to Super Soul Shakedown. A few DJs who play only....soul music. Amazing.
Cool TBird shirts were available.
Then I went to the Gruene Wine and Food or Wine and Music or Wine and Art festival. It was packed full of people, but only enough to make it an adventure. Gruene is always a good time, full of history good food (at the Gristmill) and of course it's close to the best places for tubing.
Gruene (pronounced 'green') has all sort of cutsie-pie places with names like the 'Gruene Apple' and 'Gruene with Jealousy.' So witty.
Anyways, I'm enjoying Houston and that involves a lot of sitting on the couch. Since that is such an involved and complex past-time, I need to go and concentrate. Goodday to you
ACL weekend we headed to Club DeVille to see TBird and the Breaks. Buuuuut they played inside and we didn't see them because we were too busy listening to Super Soul Shakedown. A few DJs who play only....soul music. Amazing.
Cool TBird shirts were available.Then I went to the Gruene Wine and Food or Wine and Music or Wine and Art festival. It was packed full of people, but only enough to make it an adventure. Gruene is always a good time, full of history good food (at the Gristmill) and of course it's close to the best places for tubing.
Gruene (pronounced 'green') has all sort of cutsie-pie places with names like the 'Gruene Apple' and 'Gruene with Jealousy.' So witty.
Anyways, I'm enjoying Houston and that involves a lot of sitting on the couch. Since that is such an involved and complex past-time, I need to go and concentrate. Goodday to you
Friday, October 16, 2009
Leslie ain't gonna die!
Apparently Leslie is not going to die....although the article doesn't make it seem like he'll be the same ol' Leslie either....
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