How does your garden grow?

Katie and I just returned from a whirlwind trip to Austin!  We have returned home having FELT the LOVE! We went up there this week intending to hunt for jobs, go on interviews, and view apartments (which we did), but this trip turned into such a bigger blessing :)  After our Houston visits Katie and I were both feeling torn about where to settle down - Austin or Houston.  But an apartment agent we met this week put it best when he paused in the middle of his sales pitch, cocked his head a little sideways, and said with a smile, "Austin is such a natural beauty."

Okay that was probably PART of his sales pitch but he was coming across so genuinely!  :)  Either way...SOLD.

Sunset on South Congress

Blessing #1)  Our very good friend Jeremiah opened his apartment up to us and even gave us his bed to sleep in!  We had such a great time catching up and exploring the town.  Jeremiah is so funny, sweet, and such a good sport.  Katie and I are very excited to be sharing a city with him soon!

We went a little nuts our first night in town.  We went to a food truck called Gourdough's.  Here's a snippet of the menu:

Yes...those are donuts topped with fried chicken and bacon.

These donuts were hands down the best dessert I have EVER had.  They are also a food I think I can only eat once a year - like on my birthday or something.  I got the Dirty Berry, Katie got the Cherry Bomb, and Jeremiah tried the PB&J.

PB&J...amazing

The most incredible dessert I've ever had!

Katie ate her's before I could grab a picture...they were that good :)

Jeremiah works primarily from home so during the afternoons Katie and I would hunker down in coffee shops and work on our job/apt search.  Here's a quick review of places we stopped into:

Genuine Joe's:  Friendly service, bustling with customers, good coffee.
Cenote:  Decent coffee, beautiful interior design, unique location, but the tables were kind of too small for laptops.  The food looked incredible but we were detoxing from our donuts so we didn't get anything.
Thai Fresh Coffee Bar:  This place was a combination thai restaurant and gluten-free/vegan cafe.  I wasn't too excited about it but this place had the best atmosphere of any coffee place we tried.  The tables were nice and roomy, the music wasn't insane, and the coffee was the best coffee we had.
Bouldin Creek Cafe:  The nicest wait staff and the most amazing breakfast foods!  Katie couldn't get the wifi to work for her, though :/

I know there are many other coffee shops to explore in Austin but we definitely got a good start.

Blessing #2)  Jennie and Chris!  We met up with Jennie for a happy hour where I consumed this:

This is a beer-rita.

It was life changing :)

Reconnecting with Jennie, and her husband Chris, made Katie and I feel so at home.  They took us back to their beautiful apartment where we met their dogs.  And then we walked to Amy's Ice Creams where we had - you guessed it - delicious ice cream.  Katie and are both looking forward to future happy hours and ice cream runs with Jennie and Chris :)

Blessing #3)  My wonderful former boss Lucinda heard that we were going to Austin this week and scored Katie and I both invitations to the 2013 Wildflower Gala Silent Auction at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center.  The theme was "How Does Your Garden Grow?"  And I have to say - that generous, amazing Lucinda not only got us into the event - she had us seated at her family's table!  Visiting the center (our first time!), enjoying the gala, and getting to know Lucinda's family and their friends better was the cherry on top of a wonderful week!  If you haven't been to the Wildflower Center - GO!  It was amazing.  Here are some photos:

Me and Katie exploring the gardens.

Surprisingly deep pool in the center of the dinner area.  Reminded me of the way the pool is in the middle of Lucinda's family christmas parties...the prospect of someone falling into water makes every party more exciting ;)

Gorgeous wildflowers.

Display Gardens

The Center is spectacular.  My favorite part were the display gardens.  These were separate garden "blocks" showcasing healing gardens, butterfly gardens, cactus gardens, and more!  Very cool stuff.  After touring the facilities we viewed the incredible art up for auction (window shopped only of course).  And then we enjoyed a 3 course meal with lots of wine :)

The only thing that could have made this event better would have been having Lucinda with us :)  Everyone was so kind, friendly, and ... connected!  I casually mentioned that I was interested in working for the University of Texas and someone offered to introduce me to the president of the university who was in attendance!  I was too chicken to take them up on it - but I felt so blessed and lucky to spend time with such interesting people.

Blessing #4)  Katie and I left the gala around 10 pm so we could make it back to mom and dad's before midnight.  On our way home - and on the recommendation of Jennie - we stopped at Buc-ee's.  Ladies and gentleman, I have found the Texas version of Sheetz:

Had to take a photo of this insanity before we even parked!

It was the size of 10 Sheetz stores combined.  There were rows after rows of things called "beaver nuts," every kind of white-dark-raspberry-etc-chocolate covered pretzel you can think of, and so many fountain soda options your head would explode.  It was a sight to behold.

So, you can tell we had a lovely weekend.  We are both heading back to Austin a few times next week for more scheduled interviews but those trips will be strictly business.  We are now back in Sealy and back to small town life for a while.  Not to say it doesn't have its charms - dad's new jeep was delivered this week AND our next door neighbor brought us a homemade blackberry pie made from berries she had picked that afternoon :)

Life is sweet and I think Katie and I both planted some good seeds for our future "gardens" in Austin :)

Sweet.

Sweeter.

Much love,

Becky