Heart Byrne
This weekend we got to see a Talking Heads cover band at a very cool brewery. David Byrne proposed to his girlfriend in the middle of "This Must be the Place", and it was all pretty magical.
Phone home
While I was home in New York over Christmas break, I had the rare opportunity to grab brunch with two of my girlfriends whom I've known since elementary school. As the years go by, the number of times the three of us are in the same place at the same time grows smaller. It had been about 18 months since the last time we'd found ourselves seated around the same table.
Of course, we'd "kept in touch" via social media, receiving glimpses into each other's lives through vacation photos and status updates. We knew the picture-perfect, edited-down versions well. Over eggs and toast, however, the hidden realness started to come out. As we shared more, it turned out that all of our lives had been pretty life-like during the time we hadn't seen each other. In our separate corners of the country, we had each experienced our fair share of career questioning, relationship struggles, and general growing up anxieties. One friend joked that, before coming to lunch, she had made a bet with her mom about which of us would end up engaged first, a bet which ended up being comically far from the truth. But for some reason, even when we had been crawling through the same muddy challenges, we hesitated to pick up the phone since we assumed that the others had been doing everything right, floating through the world with ease.
This year, I've heard more and more of my friends vowing to stay off social media, or to only check one app one time per day, resolving to get more in touch with the real world. While I haven't imposed strict limits on myself for 2017, I have made a pledge to text, call, or invite my friends to have actual conversations more frequently. As we get older and our sense of home becomes a bit blurred, our connections to the people we love become that much more important. A couple of cups of coffee, even when shared in silence, can often say a lot more than 140 characters.
The Skylark Lounge
I visited a new place last week.
If you get tired of Dirty 6th Street or restored houses designed as bars that all feel the same, you could go here:
Maybe you like music. They have it. Maybe you like pizza. They have it. Maybe you like large backyard patios where you can hang out with friends or smoke things from any of your different devices. They've got that, too.
Enjoy your weekend, Austin!
Intentions
Do y'all have any resolutions for this year?
I made it through 2016 without buying any new clothes, like I said I would, but my mom bought me quite a few new items, so I'm not sure that one counts. It might be back on the list. While I haven't been able to settle on many specific goals, my intentions for 2017 are to figure out my intentions for all the years hereafter.
Artwork from the East Austin Studio Tour in November 2016
One thing I have been feeling more and more connected to in recent years is the desire for creative expression. I've been taking art classes and practicing some instruments, and I hope to keep that going this year. As I've learned more about the world and the people in it, I've become convinced that we all have a creative spirit inside of us. Of course, some people have easier and better access to it than others, but I think the potential exists in all of us.
My sister accessed hers and freehanded this awesome drawing from Instagram for me!
I feel lucky to be in a place where the arts community is so active, and where you can pay $10 an hour to go somewhere and use any crafting supplies you need. That's the sharing economy at its best, in my opinion. Austin has so many fun events and spaces dedicated to the arts, along with amazing artists to learn from and check out. I'm looking forward to exploring and making more this year.
“Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once we grow up.”
A New Year
While the end of this past year was a little unexpected and left me feeling scattered, it's hard to look past all the magic that 2016 had to offer.
I went here for the first time!
I finally checked a lot of things off of the to-do list of life... including semi-leaving my job and joining AmeriCorps, an idea that had been dancing around in my head for a while. I visited 6 foreign countries and 8 brand-new-to-me national parks. I watched a small handful of my best friends get married and was able to be a part of some of their weddings. I became a certified yoga instructor and some of the loveliest people came to my house every week to share their energy and help nurture each other's spirits.
My family members all seem to be happy and healthy. I met a bunch of amazing people to keep me laughing and growing. The blessings were plenty and the bad times were few.
2017 has a lot to live up to.
To All of You
Merry belated Christmas! /// Happy belated Holidays!
Thanks for keeping me cheerful the whole year through.
The Best Laid Plans
This past weekend fell far short of my expectations.
My sister, Elayne, and her boyfriend, Will, were supposed to come visit me in Austin. They bought their tickets months in advance. I planned out our itinerary. I borrowed, inflated, and dressed an air mattress. I hung up tapestries and scarves over the windows of the "guest room" since the only mature adult home dweller has left and took her curtains with her. I went against all known habits and packed my suitcase to NY a week before departure. We even bought tickets to do yoga at the local cat cafe. My sister is a yogi, a cat mom, and a vet-to-be, so you can imagine her excitement about this event.
On Saturday morning, Elayne and Will drove to the airport. They waited and waited, hoping against more delays, until the icy weather canceled their flight. These are savvy travelers and problem-solving people, so they shrugged it off and got on another flight later in the day. On 0-2 hours of sleep, they waited, and, somewhat less patiently, waited again. Their second flight was canceled. With confidence, they booked themselves on a flight the next day and drove back to Will's apartment to catch up on much needed rest and sanity. The next day, they drove to the airport again, and waited, and sent me text messages of increasing annoyance, and waited some more. Their third flight was canceled. They braved the swarms of irritated travelers and resisted urges to cuss out customer service employees, and were rewarded with spots on the list of stand by passengers headed to San Antonio later that night. After another day spent at Newark Airport, they stood at the gate, eager to find out if two empty seats would miraculously appear. They didn't. One did, and, like any kind and loving sister, I told Elayne to send Will on his own. He was most excited about good barbecue and breakfast tacos, which are far more scarce in this world than cats and yoga.
So, instead of putting in more hours on hold and in long lines, they decided not to risk another day in the airport for a one day visit to Austin, and I cannot blame them. I laid in bed, rolled around on my fascia-releasing tune up balls, drew cartoon pictures of pugs, and did all the stuff I normally do if I have extra free time when carefully drawn out activities go to waste. Sometimes our longest awaited visits and our most planned out fun never comes to be. The three of us counted our blessings, them building a stronger bond and having time to visit the tree at Rockefeller Center, and me going to cat yoga by myself. Then we started counting the few days til Christmas week when we would all be together again.
I can only hope that your winter travels go much more smoothly than theirs. Happy holidays to all!
How-to: Campfire Thanksgiving
This is coming a little late, but fortunately for you and for all of us, campfire meals needn't be limited to the end of November. Here's how to make a good one at any time of year, and particularly for that one special day when turkey is required.
1. Spark it up
Light a fire, bring a camp stove, or, better yet, combine the two and cover all your bases. We cooked our sweet potatoes, sausages, and dessert over the fire and saved room on the stove for crucial sides like stuffing and mac & cheese.
2. Improvise
Unless you are much better at packing than we are or you are camping in your yard, you probably won't be able to roast a whole bird over your flames. We ended up with turkey sausages, but you could try breasts for a more authentic experience. There's also bacon, cold cuts, or the option to become a vegetarian for the day.
3. BYOB
You can skip cranberry sauce and still get your servings of fruit by adding juice to your mimosa! Bonus tip: this will help shield you from any doubts that your meal might be subpar and erase any homesickness about what your relatives used to make*.
*Dad, if you're reading this, I hope you will still make me real turkey at Christmas.
Wandering West
If you thought I would be tired of visiting national parks after this summer's road trip adventure, think again. I'm fully prepared to max out my annual pass and will accept any invitation to visit more before its April expiration date.
Marfa and Big Bend were both magical.
If you didn't know, Marfa is a little west Texan town full of art galleries, tasty restaurants, and quirk. It was a little unsettling to eat a most excellent meal and then go sleep on the cold ground in our tent, but we made due.
Then we headed south to see all of this:
I got to soak in my first natural hot springs and then jump into the mighty Rio Grande. I've never felt anything like it. Many thanks were given this year!
Thankful
I'm about to head out to West Texas to visit Marfa and Big Bend for the rest of the week, so of course I'm thankful for that. And to have the week off of work which allowed me to sleep until 10:00 the past two days. Praise be.
But this past month for me has been sad! The world is in a strange place, my roommate and dear friend is en route to move to the East Coast, and the person I love more than anything told me he's leaving, too. No one wants to read blog posts about missing friends or hurting hearts. How whiny! How boring! How trite!
And so I think when people ask, "How are you doing?", they expect the standard, "I'm well. How about you?" Or we feel pressured to say, "I'm doing okay", or, "I feel sad, but things will get better". But sometimes we're just plain old sad. And we know things will get better, but then they'll probably be sad again someday, and get better again, and the cycle will continue on and on forever because that's how life goes.
We learn grasp for the good. Like when Eastside Yoga let me rent out a room to give Lainie a proper send off with her closest Austin friends. Or an unexpected adventure to another National Park. Or the fact that friends and strangers will even ask how you're doing at all.
So I hope you find that it's ok to say when you're sad, and then stop there. And instead of wishing it away so quickly, discover that it can be interesting to sit with a feeling, to find out how you respond to it, and what it has to teach you. That way, probably not today or next week or even by 2017, but whenever you're really ready, you might start to see the goodness glittering around its edges.
Sounds on Sounds
Well, this is a little late, but I went to a music festival.
Beach House (hardly pictured) @ Sound on Sound
At first I was skeptical about the Renaissance Faire/music festival combination, because I like both of those things, but thought they might distract from one another when placed in the same spot. However, I quickly found that the Sherwood Forest fairgrounds are quite magical and really cater to an off-the-beaten-path (read: trippy) festival experience! There were trees and surprises everywhere, and the Texas weather was even starting to feel vaguely like fall. I got to be a VIP, hang out with my friend Jessica (an empowered, hot lady who sells port-o-potties and has found a sneaky way to infiltrate the festival circuit), and also re-live OutKast at ACL a la 2014. If there's anything more I should be asking for in a weekend, I do not know it yet.
Big Boi @ Sound on Sound
In Praise of Friendship
Friends are great things to have. They'll invite you to their houses to carve pumpkins when you forget about holidays and don't even buy candy.
They'll send you nice videos when you're feeling sad.
They might even bring you surprise coffee or donuts.
And there are so many out there just waiting to know you. New or old, you can bet it's gonna be good.
The Scene
If y'all are getting tired of these not-so-humble weekly Austin brags, stop reading now! Because we're about to talk about live music in the "Live Music Capital of the World", and there's bound to be some boasting. But in a world where some people can count the number of concerts they've seen on one or two hands, it's really something to get to be around so much music on a daily basis.
Cream Cheese Accident @ One-2-One
In the past month, I've seen old folks jam in a strip mall, friends play their hearts out with free tamales in the background, and newly formed IT rock bands get onstage for the first time at one the biggest venues in Austin.
My friend Chris's new band @ Mohawk
Concrete Robot @ The Gatsby
We've got jam bands, EDM, hip hop, psych rock, synth pop, and whatever other words people are combining to describe sounds these days. There really seems to be something for everyone. Sure, some of our live* music is better than other types, but it's always here and it's usually happening. My ear drums may not make it past 50, but my dancing feet feel happy and my heart feels fresh.
Sometimes A Legend @ CheerUp Charlies (please excuse the terrible-ness of this photo)
*=I am using the terms "our" and "live" pretty loosely here. Shout outs to any kind and patient neighbors who have ever heard me trying to play drums in the garage.
Hidden Gems
In my yoga classes this week, I offered up the intention of looking at various aspects of our lives through the lens of a “Beginner’s Mind”. This Zen Buddhist concept means shifting our attitude about familiar things: poses, hobbies, work, studies, relationships, etc. to view them from a new angle, by imagining that we are taking part in them for the very first time. The practice opens up space for different possibilities and perspectives as our habits and preconceptions are broken down.
This got me thinking about applying a beginner’s mind to the places in which we live. When I first moved to Austin, my newcomer’s senses wanted to see and do everything. And taste everything, too, since I gained about 10 pounds upon moving here. I was a constant consumer of novelty. No adventure was too time-intensive, no distance too far. Heck, I’d sometimes even drive to San Antonio if the day felt right.
Now, as much as I love Austin, my endless explorations have settled into a routine list of favorite activities, restaurants, bars, and spots to spend my time. I guard my non-working hours closely, and if I’m going to drive south of the river or get on Mopac at all ever, there better be a darn good reason. I see the hot new places and excited out-of-towners moving in every day, but I feel happier (and lazier) to exist inside my usual bubble. My 2016 To-Try list doesn’t have nearly as many items crossed off as I was planning by this time in the year.
So I was excited last week when my friend Karina invited me to visit the River Place Nature Trail, a hike that was on my list, but off the beaten-path of nearby Austin trails. The 5-6 mile hike* overlooking the West Austin hills and eventually running alongside a river, helped me feel the same zest I felt when I first moved here, like there was something magical hiding under every rock I turned.
While we accept more comfort in our cities, we give up some of the novelty and the zest for exploring. We settle into routines and responsibilities, and back out of more events if they’re further from our zone of normalcy. Our bodies and minds know this and start to become numb. We get tired more easily and aren’t as ignited by the idea of seeing something new or making a connection with a stranger. When we become experts on a subject, another person, or a city, the only way to counteract closed-mindedness or stagnation is to observe what we know from another side.
For the rest of this year, and hopefully thereafter, I’m trying to embrace the shiny, new or yet unseen parts of this city where I’ve lived for almost 4 years. I promise to say “yes” more times to something that sounds fun, before looking at Google Maps’ distance from my current location. And to my fellow Austin dwellers, I promise that whatever I find, I’ll be sure to share with you.
*The trail is out and back, so you can make it as short or as long as you’d like.
New Yoga Offerings
Hi friends! A stroke of luck has hit me hard and I'm getting the chance to teach two weekly yoga classes in Austin. Last week I started working with Foundation Communities, a local non-profit organization, to offer regular classes at one of their residences. I'm also excited to lead a new class at 24 Hour Fitness on Saturdays.
The Wednesday class is free and open to the public, but space is limited so please do contact me if you'd like to attend. The Saturday class is free to 24 Hour Fitness members and $20 for non-members, so if you've got a membership or are made of money, I'd love to practice with you!
- Wednesdays 6:30-7:30pm Foundation Communities- M Station Apartments
- Saturdays 1-2pm 24 Hour Fitness- Hancock
I'm very grateful to be sharing a practice that is so special to me with more people in the area. Check out the newly added Yoga section of this site for more information.
And if that doesn't get you your yoga fix, I'll also be out here as a participant this weekend.
Thank you / Namaste / See you on the mat soon.
ACL Time! How to: Music Festivals
Regrettably, I did not post this in time for Weekend One of ACL, but there's still plenty of time to prepare for Weekend Two, or any other Fall Festival that might have your palms wet with anticipation. Here are some tips from a 4th timer:
1. Honesty is (almost never) the best policy
Last week, I courageously asked my supervisor to leave early for ACL on Friday and she said no, but told me that she could have said yes if I'd been sick, leaving for a trip, or if my family was visiting. From this I have learned to bend the truth to the exact opposite limits of possibility. Get the flu, invite an imaginary friend to town, let your grandma die for the third time this year. Do what you must to gain a brief glimpse of freedom!
2a. Remember you're a human
In spite of your animal ears or alien attire, you still have to drink water, eat food, and walk/ride/roll yourself out when all the things end. See 2b. for recommendations.
2b. Granola bars
What a world! There are tens, if not twenties, of types of these things available to us at every grocery store. If ACL, save all your food calories for Amy's Oreo Shakes and eat these as meals. Mix it up or you'll end up hating Clif bars for life, until they introduce the new nut butter filled flavors upon which you will rejoice. Variety is the spice of snacks. And don't waste your time with any cereal bars.
3. Treat your feet
If you're over 25 and not cool or hip, consider taking the insoles out of your running shoes and putting them in your posing-ass cool hip flat-bedded shoes. I'm old and this is a real suggestion.
4. Be open
Talk to the people around you. Ask them if you can touch their Zuru air chair because, what? If your friends are all going to a different show, go see the ones you want to see on your own. But don't be too stuck to your pre-planned schedule. Leave time for grass laying, traipsing, and general BS-ing. It'll all be fine.
5. Cancel Monday
I'm writing this after working on a Monday after Weekend One and so, yeah.
Wake-up Call
In college, I knew a friend whose mom was about to take a new job in education after taking several years off from the working world. The week before her first day, she started setting her alarm earlier and earlier so that she could practice waking up on time. Back then, I thought she was being a little dramatic. I wondered, could it really be that hard to adjust to a pre-8 a.m. schedule?
After my first full week of 7:30 a.m. clock-ins, I don't wonder that anymore. Now that the school year is in full swing and we barely have time to get dressed, work, eat, exercise, and take care of all the adult business like laundry/groceries/keeping the roof tied down, just to do it all over again the next day, I find myself wanting to squeeze as much fun into the weekends as humanly possible.
Fortunately, this one contained enough music, friends, tostadas, and new stomps around familiar territories to keep my summer-jonesing heart fulfilled.
Concrete Robot @ The Sahara Lounge
B played one of our favorite venues for the first time. I helped our sweet Nicole warm her adorable new home. Our lady Lacey turned 30 in the midst of house shows, slip-and-sliding, and chicken sh*t bingo (if you didn't know, well, now you know). We even got to flex our cultural sides with the eye-opening Elliott Erwitt photo exhibit at the Harry Ransom Center.
The very smooth Wild Toast @ Trevor's house
Oh, and there were biscuits (unphotographed due to lack of time), pinatas (unphotographed due to lack of sobriety), and turtles (photograph below).
Turtles at the University of Texas Austin
I'm ending Sunday with a happy heart and an inspired soul. I hope you, too, had a weekend to make your long weekdays feel like no big thang at all.
Full Moons & Frisco
This weekend got us into some happening "new-to-me" Texas activities. On Friday night, we went to my first Full Moon Swim at Barton Springs, and on Saturday I hesitantly rode in the band van all the way to Frisco, TX to watch B play a show. The two short days flew right by me, but I had a great time and learned some new, not really very surprising things.
Things I learned about Austin this weekend: Austin is a place where people of all ages will gather monthly to swim in 60 degree water at night, howl at the moon, dance, most likely get naked, and probably do some types of drugs. However, this time there were a lot of supervisors walking around the area so I think the naked dancing and drug-doing was not as much as during full moons of the past. Still, anything at Barton Springs gets a 10/10, would do again.
Things I learned about Frisco this weekend: The Frisco Bar has the nicest bartenders of any bar ever. They are just plain cool and friendly without even a hint of better than you bartender superiority. Also, being in Texas, Frisco has a Whataburger and that Whataburger serves honey butter chicken biscuits and that's really all a Texas town needs to be good enough for me. Thank you Frisco for your hospitality and Fouled Out for an awesome show!
Fouled Out @ The Frisco Bar
First Days
Today was my first day at school and we spent it doing 8 hours of arts & crafts, so I think you could say that I'm on the right path.
But all fun, cheetah borders, and elephant-shaped die-cutters aside, changing jobs is like entering a weird, alternate universe type time warp where you can never feel too sure if you're doing the right thing. No matter how deep your roots have grown, it can be unbalancing to suddenly pick them up and repot yourself someplace else.
The night before my first day of training, I found myself unable to sleep. You might think that after 28 years of being me, I'd confidently have it all in the bag, yet, here I was, inexplicably nervous, wondering where to sit or what to wear. Should I bring my lunch and be a lonely lunch packer, or go out to meet other people? Was I making the right choice for my yet-to-be-determined career goals? Do I really want to wake up before 7am every day? And the pang of uncertainty that always haunts us: what happens next?
You might also think that after 3.5 years of living in Texas, I'd know better than to wear jeans for two days a row in early September, but that's neither here nor there. So I wore the jeans, went out to eat on the first day, and sat in any empty seat I could find. Some of the other questions linger, but the arting and crafting helped ease my mind.
How-to: Labor Day, Austin style
1. Find a lake house
Long, end of summer weekends beg for water. Rent a lake house, make a lake-residing friend, start a relationship with someone who lives on a lake, take over an abandoned dock, etc. Do whatever it takes! It's an investment in your future and you (probably) won't regret it.
2. Let there be music
Concrete Robot @ Hole in the Wall
Few things could be called "Austin style" without live music. I followed in the footsteps of Spoon/St. Vincent/Doug Sahm/Natalie Portman/a bunch of other famous people when I was treated to my first show at Hole in the Wall on Saturday night. Then, on Sunday after the lake, our smelly, lakey selves wound up at a house show to hear our friend, Jimmy Dee's, angelic vocals. It was all super cool and musical and Austin-y. Plus, there were Oreos. Yay!
3. End it with a free day of yoga
I am only half sure that it falls on the same day each year, but this Labor Day happened to coincide with Austin's Free Day of Yoga which brings us tons of different style yoga and meditation classes all over the city. I was happy to help out with my friend David's yoga and meditation in the morning and to enjoy another yoga class in the afternoon. What better way to wrap up your non-laboring weekend than with your choice of stretching, kirtan chants, gong meditations, and/or reiki energy circles?
