My trip to Texas: Expectations vs. Reality

Obviously, Texas is one of the largest and most populous states in the country, full of all kinds of people. However, the kid in me always seems to think of it like this silly scene from Pee Wee's Big Adventure:

The closest thing to wide open spaces that I saw during my five-day trip, complete with cowboy hats and boots, was at a house show I went to my first night in town. But even then, it wasn't so much what people were wearing as it was the warmth, the hospitality, the hugs from strangers.

It was at a ranch house about an hour outside of town, with a bunch of local bands and artists playing.

The 20- or 30-person audience was mostly made up of Jenni and her boyfriend Neil's friends, acquaintances, at a beautifully constructed cabin. Surrounded by open fields on a clear night, the stars were bright and it was a beautiful sight. Part of me wishes I had pictures of it, but I would've never been able to capture it on film the way I saw it anyway.

Intimate live performances are always the best. My favorite band by far from that night was RF Shannon, which is a local folksy band with a trippy side to it. Also: The band has a lap steel guitar player. Case closed. Haha.

So now that I have the experience of visiting Austin, Texas under my belt, I have a few things to take away from it.

Expectation #1: Texas is going to be damn hot in August.

Reality: It was hot, mostly in the mid to upper 90s when I was there, but wasn't nearly as hot as I was expecting, since the humidity (at least in Austin) didn't come close to what it does here in the Northeast. Also, I wasn't outside for crazy amounts of time, making the little bits when I was more tolerable.

Another unexpected thing: There were cacti everywhere. If it's a place that's dry enough for cactus, then the humidity probably isn't all that terrible.

Expectation #2: Tacos will be damn delicious.

Reality: The tacos I ate while I was there may have surpassed my expectations.

I think we had tacos three different times, and I never got sick of it. Breakfast tacos at Veracruz All Natural (pictured above) were unlike anything I've ever eaten. I'm hoping to make my own migas at home. (Eggs with tortilla chips!)

Expectation #3: Austin is freaking huge.

Reality: I'll admit that a city of 800,000, with roughly 1.8 million living in the region, I was expecting a ton of congestion. However, the downtown area was fairly small, and had a lot of sprawl.

I always seem to compare Pittsburgh in other cities in this regard, since Pittsburgh city limits are relatively confined and there's relatively little city sprawl, more just burbs. I've still have never found another city that's quite like Pittsburgh in that way. (The book The Paris of Appalachia, one of my favorite texts about Pittsburgh, talks about this concept with a ton of detail.)

Overall, my favorite things about Austin, besides the fact that a great friend of mine, Jenni, lives there, were THE TACOS and variety of food trucks, Barton Springs, and the overall vibe I got from the place. It was an artsier town, but people seemed relaxed and not crazy in competition with one another.

Also, I loved the vintage shopping there, but my thoughts on that are worth a separate post.

Have you ever been to Austin? If so, what were some of your favorite things about it?

Subliminal Messages

Sorry for the lack of presence on the blog over the last few weeks. There are a few things to blame for that. But most recently, it's because I spent a long weekend in Austin, Texas with my old internship friend, Jenni.

(There's more about our friendship here and here.)

I'll write more about my visit later, going into more detail about some of the things I did. For now, I wanted to share a few magazine scrap collages I assembled while I was there.

I used to do little magazine scrap collages in postcard form all the time, and send them to people. Jenni kind of brought me back into the habit. Since we were on completely different sleep cycles during the trip, I tended to keep myself busy making these and writing in my journal in the mornings until she got up and we went out exploring.

I'm not sure how a couple of these came out so dark. I just started cutting out things that looks fun or interesting and started assembling them, and obscure statements about feminism and greed are what I got.

There was one magazine in particular that had so many pictures of ladies with vacuum cleaners. It was wild. So I assembled those photos like they were all sucking one another. Haha.

I made the Texas one just for a little more balance. I don't think any of these are worth hanging up or framing, but I thought they were at least something worth sharing.

Overall, I found these to be a nice fun, easy, creative outlet to fill some time, that I might continue to do here at home.

PS, for a sneak peek of some of my Austin adventures, check out my Instagram feed!

Jenni and I Were Like Peas and Carrots (Part 2)

Fun fact: I'll be visiting Jenni on her birthday weekend this August. (Here's Part 1 of the story.)

Coincidently, we also celebrated her birthday while we were at YES! Magazine. It's particularly noteworthy because her mom sent this epically large chocolate cake to the office. While there weren't more than 20 people at the YES! office, this ginormous cake could easily feed 100 plus people. It was hilarious... and delicious. (pictured above, even though photos don't do justice of this cake's size) I remember the cake was mermaid-themed because Jenni is from Florida. We were eating that cake for months. We froze big chunks of it. Side note: Dylan is her dog back home.

I guess there could be another large cake on the horizon... not that I'm complaining.

I've also been reminiscing about our trip to Mt. Rainier, one of our last outings together before I left Seattle. It was our only double date; Mark flew in to visit during the last week of my internship. Before that, I hung out a lot with just Jenni and her then-boyfriend pretty regularly.

Jenni probably enjoyed making snow balls a little too much, since it was a novel experience. Mark was also in rare form: Happy!

Sigh. I do miss YES! a lot. There are many memories and beautiful things out in the Pacific Northwest. I hope I'm able to return there soon. Between the weather, the people, the climate, the culture... Everything about that place was surreal and amazing.

I'm sure Jenni and I will be reminiscing a lot!

All the YES! interns, from left to right: Jenni, Idil, me, Ayla, and Sara.

Jenni and I Were Like Peas and Carrots (Part 1)

Jenni is my YES! Magazine bestie, where we were both editorial interns back in 2011.

My time at YES! (which is based in Seattle) was by far my most unique internship experience. While the work there was unpaid, they provided free housing for all interns in a house that the magazine owns. It was great for intern camaraderie, but with Jenni and I working the same position, and the only ones in the house who weren't already living in Seattle, we bonded pretty hardcore.

Between trips to Lake Crescent (pictured above) and Mt. Rainier (pictures to come), and working and living together, we were practically inseparable. Unfortunately though, even with spending every waking moment together for more than three months, I could only find a handful of photos of us together.

I'm hoping that will soon change, since I'm planning on visiting her in Austin, Texas this summer!!

It's been about two-and-a-half years since we last saw one another in person. It was weird to suddenly spend that much time with someone out of nowhere, and have it taken away just as quickly. We've exchanged the occasional letter, text, and video chat, but obviously that's not the same as spending time in person. Needless to say, I am so freaking excited to see her again.

Other adventures while we were in the Pacific Northwest?

I can still remember our first weekend together. We found old bikes in the intern house garage and decided to ride them to a nearby farmers market. Little did we know that the bikes had no brakes! That was a day to remember, to say the least.

After that, we picked about five million wild blackberries, participated in No Impact Week together, and carved pumpkins while wearing the creepiest animal masks ever. And let's not forget the endless number of ferry rides, since we lived and worked on Bainbridge Island, which is a half hour ferry ride from downtown Seattle. :)

I'm so excited to have some fun summer plans in place. Sadly, this will be my first time flying since 2011, when I returned to Pittsburgh from Seattle.

What kinds of plans do you have for this summer? Planning on visiting old friends? Anything I should know about the capitol of the Lone Star State?