Austin, TX

I'm a tad behind with my pics but at least I'm posting them up!

As all Houstonians (and Texans) know, Austin is a great place to chillax and/or live, especially for hipster, liberal, outdoorsy types. It's a short three hour roadtrip to get there from where we live in Houston. We stayed with our gracious friend Diana, who lives about 10 minutes from downtown Austin. We didn’t do much except shop (at this new outdoor mall and some local shops) and ate out a lot. I wish I took pics and noted everywhere I went but I guess the mother in me had other priorities. I'm getting better though! The trip was much needed and quite nice and relaxing. It was our gazillionith time there, but the first roadtrip for the baby! He slept the whole ride to and from..boy, were we lucky..we were afraid he would get antsy along the way. He had a blast exploring there! And he was a great guest a Diana's. He wasn't intimidated by a new area (of course, because mommy and daddy were there), he napped and slept at night very well, and didn't make a mess at all. It made the trip all the better.

My fave eatery of the weekend was East Side Cafe. A great brunch place! The food was definitely yums and the decor is oh-so homey and cute. Their recipes are almost completely organic because they grow their own veggies! They have their own little shop behind the house-turned-restaurant and their garden is just behind that. You simply can't miss the well-groomed greenery of the garden.














^^A bucket of corks.














^^Loved the heart-shape.


^^More hearts.





We also went to this pool party on the roof of one of the many new condo high rises in downtown Austin. They sure are metropolizing the area! Diana, who's a structural engineer and has contracts in that area, told me hipsters are not too happy about the modernization of such a laidback town, but then again, some of those "hipsters" are people who don't realize the real estate potential of such things, especially in increasingly popular Austin. I still think it will never really lose it's relaxing nature. Anyway, it was packed roof, that's for sure. They were giving out free food and drinks. They sure did know how to put their tenants' money to good use. The view from that roof for the night's downtown firework show was supposedly the best in Austin. Too bad we had to leave beforehand and didn't get to catch a view of any fireworks! BUT my prego belly was calling for some good ol' Trudy's. Must obey the p-belly! And besides, driving around town to find a spot to see the fireworks was a job in itself, so we decided that Independence Day wasn't worth the hassle - Sorry, America! =P





^^Some of the doods we met, except the guy on the far right, who introduced us.





^^Fotchoy all shaved with his lion's haircut..he cleans up pretty well, eh?