Food, Fitness, Fashion

Hi ya’ll (hehehehehehe), I am back from Texas! Let me tell you, it was a great “time warp” (we called it that because it was too long to be a vacation) weekend…but far too short. There was so much stuff in Austin that I didn’t get to see and wanted to, plus it was far too short a time to see Kara. When you haven’t seen someone in over 2 years (but talk to them every day) a day and a half is waaaaaayyyyy too short, and I really miss Kara today

Ok, well let’s start at the start I woke up at 3:00am on Friday morning, before jumping in the shower I ate a Kashi Bar:

Crystal came and Adam dropped us off at the airport around 4:00am. After checking my bag and getting through security, we stopped at Starbucks and I got a grande Skinny Vanilla Latte (and a water and almonds the I drank and eat later) * I drank a lot of water this weekend due to heat, but didn’t take pics because it is boring.

It was freezing on the plane and I only had on shorts, so Crystal puul her PJ pants out of her carry on and gave them to me…THANKS CRYSTAL! That lady is always prepared

During the flight, Crystal and I were SHOCKED when they brought out breakfast. I didn’t know airlines did this anymore (it was Continental Airlines). It was Milk, Honey Chex, an apple muffin and a banana. I only ate the banana, it was so tiny
A few hours into the flight, me and Crystal dug into my Almonds, we split the little package:

When we got off the plane in Houston, we had a few hours until we boarded out flight to Austin. So we sat at the bar and had three beers:

X2 and a Blue Moon:

Here is a picture of a tired Ali and Crystal…excited to get to Austin!

I was earing a hot pink tank, that green long sleeved top and a pair of white shorts, that I somehow did not get a picture of…Sorry!

Our flight to Austin was 38 minutes. Once we got there, Kara met us! Seeing Kara was so exciting, I thought I was going to cry!!!! After we left the airport we went right out to Brunch (it was 12:00pm in TX, but 1:00pm in MA- I was hungry since I hadn’t had a real meal). We went to a place called Kirby Lane it was awesome! There were tons and tons of healthy options as well as options for people with dietary restrictions (vegan,veggie, gluten free). With Kara’s guidance I ordered my first Texas beer:

It is a Fireman #4 Ale. I loved it…it was awesome. We started off with an appitizer of Queso. Kara always talks about how much she loves queso…so I was thrilled to try it. The one we got was cheese, salsa and avecado…Queso up close:

Kara had to capture the moment of my first Queso taste…I loved it, it was awesome. 

I am sure it is far too caloric to eat everyday, but this was a special occasion and I was splugeing…so cheesey! For my meal I ordered the Eggs Francisco.

“Eggs Francisco – English muffin piled with scrambled eggs, bacon, tomato, avocado, and queso.”

I requested it without bacon, and on whole wheat bread instead of the English Muffin (I forgot to ask for egg whites…oh well)

It came with black beans and some fresh fruit:

I ate all the fruit (obvi), all the beans and one of the toast/eggs combos. I was STUFFED! After brunch we went to see sight see in Austin (aka shop). We went to UT so I could get some Texas stuff

Here is the Tower at UT:

Here I am pretending to be a UT fan…I love foam fingers!

We also drove by the Flagship Whole Foods and I REALLY wanted to find time to go, but we ran out…so sad (I guess I will just have to go back to Austin…to bad, so sad!)

After looking around for a but, I was thirsty and I got a Sweet Tea (Hey- I was in the South) and some water:

After our drink break…we shopped! We went to a thrift shop called Buffalo Exchange (you can learn more about them here on their website). I loved that place! I didn’t take a picture of all my purchases, as I wear them I will tell you guys that they are from that store. It is the funnest store I have been in in a long time!!!!!! After Buffalo Exchange we walked around a little more, Crystal and I were so tired so we got a Coffee at Jo’s where we got Iced Turbos (and water). An Iced Turbo has coffee and hot chocolate and I think something else (I forget), I added some half and half.

After the coffee we walked around for a little and decided to grab a glass of wine at Cissi’s: Here is a picture of me, Kara, Michael (Kara’s friend) and Crystal. We ordered a glass of  Prosecco (a sparkling white wine) The brand was called Terragaie.

We also had a Saki shot, it was my first time trying Saki. I thought it was gross-yuck! But, maybe it was the kind they had here? Not sure.

After the Saki, we went to walk to the car and ran into Lesley, I guess he is a legend in Austin and everyone knows him. He is quite a character and actually ran for Mayor…LOL.

We went back to Kara’s and got ready for a night on the town. We drove back into Austin and went to Wahoos for some quick eats. I got a fish taco (Kara always talks about them, so it was a must try) and a chicken enchilada:

It came with black beans and rice. I eat the taco, enchilada and most of the black beans and a little of the rice….I WAS FULL.

I also tried this Mexican beer called Negro Modelo…It was good and dark, but unlike anything else I had really tried before. I liked it:

As we were finishing up dinner, Adam called to let me know about the close Red Sox/Yankees game. We headed over to Little Woodrows to watch the game. We had a Shiner Bock (Texas Beer) and it was good, it was dark as well. After that beer, we were all so tired, that we decided to call it a night (some night on the Town huh?). We went back to Kara’s and went to bed.

In the morning we met up with her boss who showed us some cows and bulls on his cousin’s farm. This was quite an experience for a city girl like me It was so nice of them to take the time out of their day to show us around. Meeting Jeff (if you click Jeff’s name, you can see the link to his website- This is true for all the times when someting is underlined and in a different color- Check him out!) was exciting too because I heard so much about him. He was just as funny and gracious as Kara described. You guys want to see some cows?

moooooo!

Readers: Meet Big Red! He is the biggest Bull I have ever seen (he is the first Bull I have ever seen too, but whatever). I was certifiably petrified of him! And- to top it all off, he was totally giving he the stink eye every time I was near him…yikes!

Really?! He is HUGE, right!?

That’s a whole lot of cows!

I will be doing the trip in two separate posts, because when it is one huge one, the pictures start freezing and deleting. Oh, WordPress! I hope you are enjoying the post, stay tuned for Part 2.