Austin: Day Five

I was lucky enough to meet up with the beautiful Amelia of Vintage Vivant today. Amelia was so kind and welcoming; she showed me around the city and introduced me to many new experiences - chocolate bacon, cucumber soda and the expression 'my dogs are barking,' to name just a few. And she gave me this gorgeous parasol, just perfect for protection from the sun's heat! We visited an amazing candy store on South Congress (Big Top Candy Shop), Uncommon Objects (I am absolutely going to furnish my house from here when we move) and several great vintage stores. It was such a fantastic day, and I feel like I've known Amelia for years. Looking forward to our formal-wear ukelele evenings, lovely lady!




The Aladdin's Cave that is Uncommon Objects.





Like kids in a candy store ...

And here, apropos of nothing, are some pictures of Austin taken from our hotel windows. Such a beautiful place!

Austin: Days Three and Four

I have a terrible sense of direction - like an ant in a matchbox. While LOML can arrive in a new city and instantly have his bearings, I will be wandering in the wrong direction and becoming confused. It took me years to feel confident finding my way around Christchurch without maps and detailed directions, and I think Austin is going to be the same! I went out to a Barnes and Noble store in the suburbs yesterday, and got horrendously lost while trying to find a Goodwill store I had passed en route. I ended up going in the opposite direction, heading away from the city and out to goodness-knows-where. Luckily I stopped at a very friendly bar, Sam's Boat, where I called LOML to come and rescue me and comforted my shaken nerves with a Corona or two. I did stop in at a Salvation Army store on the way home, though, and so that comforted me for my unintentional detour. LOML has now bought me a compass, and I purchased a gigantic Austin street atlas yesterday, so I'm hoping I won't get quite that lost again. Fingers crossed.

Last night, I was lucky enough to meet the beautiful Theresa, a bloggy friend who has been hugely helpful and kind to me while I plan my move. We had a drink at Bouldin Creek Cafe, on the corner of Elizabeth Street and South 1st - what a cool place! Intimidatingly cool, in fact - lots of arty people with iPads and carefully constructed holes in their clothing - and great fun. I really liked it. They also gave me the largest glass of wine I have ever seen in my life, which helped.



I have really fallen in love with the portion of the city that is south of the river. I can just picture myself working in one of the great cafes around there (stopping for a vintage-buying break, of course). We'll see, though. We're going to look at houses on Thursday, and I don't know where we'll end up yet.

Today I wandered around downtown, eventually ending up at Toy Joy and Buffalo Exchange on Guadalupe Street. Toy Joy has to be the best toy shop I have ever been in - I spent well over an hour wandering around looking at everything. I wish I could transport my eight-year-old self there - she would be in heaven.



Speaking of heaven - Buffalo Exchange. Wow. I have never been to one before, and I loved it. I found two fifties dresses, really stunning ones, and a gigantic red crinoline (don't ask me how I'm getting it home, because I don't know), for a ridiculously cheap price. Thrifting- and vintage-wise, this city gets a big thumbs-up from me. Of course, it gets a big thumbs-up in all the other areas too, so far.


Lazy day wandering around the city.

Blouse - thrifted, F21 via Buffalo Exchange
Belt - vintage
Jeans - '80s, thrifted
Shoes - no label, vintage, thrifted at the Austin Salvation Army store
Bag - vintage, gift from a friend

Austin: Day Two

We went to a bar in Old West Austin last night, and it was wonderfully Austin-y (Austinish?). There was a great live country band, dancing, and a ladies' loo made from a boxcar. I spent a lot of time reading all the graffiti on the toilet wall and then taking photographs of it, which garnered me some strange looks from fellow patrons. And an invitation to have dinner with one of them (declined). I can't remember the name of the place, though (I'm afraid it was that kind of night): if anyone recognises it, please tell me!








As you can imagine, we were in need of a hearty breakfast and a lot of coffee this morning. We headed down to Magnolia with our friends, and managed to get a table after about an hour's wait. Our friends told us that going out for breakfast on a Sunday is kind of an American tradition - it certainly seemed like every other person in Austin had had the same idea.



Magnolia again! Such a cool place. And amazing Eggs Benedict.

After breakfast, I popped in to New Bohemia. That place is absolutely amazing - as are the other vintage stores I've visited here. I am completely overwhelmed by the sheer number of garments and the low prices. Overwhelmed in a good way. And, naturally, I came away with another couple of vintage dresses. I need to start pacing myself a bit - we've only been here for two days!


New Bohemia, my spiritual home, on South Congress. And this is just a tiny, tiny section of it.

Art City Austin was on this weekend - we wandered the stalls this afternoon (some seriously great stuff), and I developed a new addiction to iced tea.

Outfit shot! I am hot and tired. Can you tell?

Dress - vintage, bought for $5 back in New Zealand
Shoes - Hannahs
Bag - vintage, a gift
Sunglasses - vintage, thrifted

And this evening seemed - to me, at least - to be our most Texan yet; we drove out of town to a barbecue restaurant called Salt Lick, where we ordered an all-you-can-eat array of ribs, steak, sausage, coleslaw, beans and potatoes. So much meat. They might as well have plonked a whole cow onto the table. The atmosphere was fantastic - bustling, lively, cheerful - and the enormous barbecues were pretty cool. I'm not a big meat-eater, but I really enjoyed the coleslaw and the yummy sauces. I think I've tried more different hot sauces over the past two days than I have consumed over the course of my life.



And this has nothing to do with anything, but I thought it was hilarious. Bear with me.

Austin: Day One

The view from the plane window as we left New Zealand. It seems like there should be angels playing harps.

We were upgraded to Premium Economy on the flight. So exciting. For years I have glared resentfully at all the people in First, Business and Premium class on my way through to the crowded cattle-pens of Economy - on Friday night, however, I sat in my spacious Premium chair sipping on my Premium sparkling wine brought to me by our personal Premium stewardess, and smiled smugly at the Economy people passing me. And they glared resentfully back. So the great circle of life continues. Although I think I spoiled my Premium image somewhat by being very excited by everything that was offered - "Free wine! A four-course dinner! Port and a cheeseboard! Hot towels! Foot-rests!" I don't care. It is exciting, and if I ever get to sit in Premium Economy again, I will continue to behave like a small child.

We had a few dull hours in San Francisco airport and then a few dull hours on a small plane before landing in Austin last night. The friendliness here has really struck me - I know Texas has a reputation for friendliness, so I shouldn't have been surprised, but it is really noticeable. I love it. Being a friendly sort myself, I like to strike up conversations with strangers, and here they smile and chat with me rather than staring at me as if I'd whipped out a knife, which is nice. I really love the city so far - the people are great, the weather is great, the atmosphere is, you guessed it, great, and the vintage is plentiful and cheap (always good!). I went to Cream Vintage on the university campus, which I loved (tempted to buy vintage cowboy boots. Is that cliched in a sad-tourist way or cliched in an AWESOME way? Your thoughts) and Prototype Vintage Design on Milton Street, and have already bought four vintage dresses. I may as well have left my suitcase behind. I also love how many healthy eating options and locally-owned stores and restaurants there are, and how the city as a whole has this wonderful wry sense of humour.

I am not the best holiday picture-taker in the world. I either become over-excited and take a million photos ("Here's my salad after one bite. Here's my salad after two bites. Here's my salad after ...") or forget that I have a camera and take random, unassociated shots when I recollect. Today was one of the latter days. I used up most of my memory card taking pictures of squirrels - we don't have squirrels where I live, so they are exciting - but, after a while, LOML pointed out that if I treated every squirrel as a tourist attraction we would never walk further than our hotel, and so I have resolved to include only one squirrel photo here. Those things are fast.
I love this.


Obligatory tourist shot in front of the Capitol building!


Obligatory tourist shot where I forgot to look at the camera!


People in Austin don't drive cars. They prefer more traditional forms of transport.*

*Not true.


The city is full of fantastic murals and graffiti.


The Capitol building is absolutely beautiful, inside and out. A really gorgeous structure.


View from the University of Texas campus. I saw my first ever sorority and fraternity houses today - some part of me had refused to believe they existed outside of films.


Obligatory outfit shot!

Blouse - thrifted, no label
Shorts - '80s, thrifted
Belt - vintage
Shoes - thrifted
Bag - vintage, a gift from Hannah


SQUIRREL! SQUIRREL! I still find squirrels exciting, no matter what LOML says.

Here!

We've just arrived at our hotel, and we're exhausted. Just ordered some sandwiches to be delivered to the room, and we're going to eat like pigs and then lapse into comas. Thanks for all the good wishes - see you tomorrow!

I'm off!

And, by some trick of the time zones, I am going to arrive in Austin BEFORE I leave New Zealand. Neat trick, eh? Now if only I could go back to 2004 and reverse the giant rainbow tie-dyed flares incident.

We fly from Christchurch to Auckland, change planes, fly to San Francisco, have a few hours of waiting in the airport there, and then fly to Austin. Wish me luck! The actual flying part will be fun - it's the airport bits that are tedious. Next time I see you all, I'll be in Texas. Take care, and I hope you have a wonderful day/night until then.

Er ... aeroplane toilets seem to be the main focus

I have just finished doing my taxes. Ugh. Tax is horrible, and freelancing makes it even more complicated. I struggle with accounts and figures, and I have a pathological hatred of forms of any kind (which is going to make moving countries, opening new bank accounts and taking out new insurance LOTS of fun). Anyway, it is all done! And it is such a good feeling. I really wanted to get it out of the way before we left on Friday.

I still can't quite believe that we're leaving so soon. I mean, objectively I am aware that we are flying out on Friday afternoon, but some part of me refuses to admit it. I'm really looking forward to our trip, though - it will be great to get to know Austin, to see San Francisco and to catch up with some US bloggers while I'm there. I'm also planning to visit as many vintage stores as possible, of course!

I'm trying not to think too much about the flight itself - I quite like flying when I'm actually on the plane, watching movies and scoffing all the meals they throw my way, but all the faffing about in the airports isn't much fun. I also develop a sudden need to go to the bathroom every five minutes when I'm on a plane, particularly if I'm not in an aisle seat and need to clamber over someone ("Sorry, sorry ... sorry,") to escape. There's nothing quite like flying for illustrating the fact that humans are really nothing but big tubes - things go in at one end, spend some time sitting uncomfortably in the middle being squished by a seatbelt and the elbow of the immensely fat person sitting beside you, and then come out at the other end with irritating frequency. And get sucked into the terrifying aeroplane toilet. Is anyone else scared of being sucked down the loo when it flushes? It's so loud. And violent.

Sorry to lower the tone.

Gah!

I know I am horribly behind on bloggy things, everyone, comments and emails in particular, but it is such a busy week. There is so much to organise before we go away. I had a slew of vivid, confused dreams last night about all sorts of mundane things, and when I woke up this morning I wasn't sure which ones were dreams and which ones actually happened yesterday. I'm going to try and catch up this afternoon. In the meantime, though, I'm off into the city to have coffee with friends!

Behind the scenes at Two Squirrels Vintage

Today two of my best friends (Christina and Hannah) and I went to Two Squirrels Vintage in Cashel Mall to try out some looks for the Mother's Day High Tea and vintage fashion show (9 May, 2pm to 4pm, tickets from One Big Sugar Bowl and Tete a Tete Vintage, plug plug plug). It was so much fun being in the shop while it was closed to the public - and we got to investigate the secret rooms where the stock is stored, too. It was very hard not to jump into the piles of clothing and swim around like Scrooge McDuck swimming in his money. It's such a great place - I'm never happier than when surrounded by clothes, books and old bits and pieces.