Weekend on the Water (and with Harry Potter ;)

SUCH a great weekend!  Our friends Avery and Luke were in town so I got to play hostess J.  This was amazing for two reasons; One- I LOVE LOVE LOVE when people come visit and entertaining (hint to anyone reading this!) and Two- it forced me to get unpacked last week ;)  They didn’t come in until Saturday so Friday night I convinced Patrick to go see the final Harry Potter with me - such a good fiancé! ;) It was a little easier to twist his arm, however, when I explained that we’d be seeing the show at the Alamo Draft house.  The Alamo is a chain of movie theaters in Austin that double as a bar/restaurant.  Between each row of theater seats is an aisle for servers to move between and in front of the seats is a wooden counter/bar.  So before and throughout the movie, you can order whatever drinks you’d like from their full service bar and/or food from their pretty extensive menu!  For some of the bigger movies (like Harry) they even have special event menus with food and drink items associated with the film – yes they were serving Butterbeer!  Check out the menu on the link below to see.  Once Patrick realized he could eat and drink beer while watching, it wasn’t too difficult to convince him to go with me. 

http://drafthouse.com/austin/south_lamar/Lamar_our_chef_menu/

Saturday we went with Luke, Avery and another couple Kacey and Kyle to kayak on Lady Bird Lake.  This is not an actual lake, but a huge river that runs through the middle of the city and extending outward from the middle of downtown.  There are several entry points to the water at which you can rent kayaks, paddle boats, or paddle boards.  $15 will get you a kayak for two for an hour and you can bring your own cooler as well if you so choose.  We ended up spending two hours paddling down the river and looking at the magnificent houses boarding it, sometimes getting a great arm workout, sometimes just floating along.  There are rope swings and little cliffs you can kayak out to and play on as well.  The best part is that there are literally people out enjoying this aspect of Austin All. The. Time.  Seriously, anytime you drive over the bridge into the city you will always see people out taking advantage of the gorgeous scenery and jumping in the water to cool off. 

After the lake, we went out to dinner and hit up several bars downtown.  The best thing about the nightlife in Austin is the abundance of rooftop bars and patios and naturally, the weather that allows you to enjoy them.  It’s definitely hot during the day, but the lack of humidity at night means that after dark, it’s perfect weather to enjoy being outside while out with friends.  Sunday we walked to brunch, discovered an old fashioned candy/soda shop with a generous serving ice cream for $2.17 (also within walking distance), and headed to Barton Springs for a little more sun and cooling off in the water (which is chilly!).  Grilling out that night was the end to a perfect weekend.  I made some (pretty amazing) white sangria too, recipe is below if interested. 

1 bottle of White Wine (Pinot Grigio)

½ C. Peach Schnapps

¼ C. Sugar

¼ C. Sprite

¼ C. Vodka

Cut up mango, peaches, and half grapes.

Prep: Stir all ingredients together, toss in fruit and let chill for several hours or overnight.  Add additional sprite or vodka/water to taste (depending on how strong or how sweet you like your sangria).  Serve over ice… and enjoy the fruit!

~Puppies and Produce~

We're here!  We left Charlotte last Sunday and drove three days, arriving in Austin Tuesday.  Since then, it’s been hectic!  There’s been a lot going on with the movers coming with only half of our items, unpacking, and starting to explore our neighborhood and city while also taking care of our new puppy! 

Sadie: 

10 weeks old, 16.8lbs, and the cutest dog I have ever seen.  I know I’m biased, but she is absolutely adorable.  We picked her up before even getting to Austin because I couldn’t wait any longer to see that sweet face.  She was born in Troy, Texas which is in the middle of absolutely nowhere and was part of a litter of 11.  Immediately sweet and cuddly in the car, we thought that maybe the transition from her farm to our house would be seamless…  NOT the case.  The first night she cried allll night long, whined when she saw her reflection in the oven because she thought it was her sister that she missed, and wouldn’t eat.  But since then, she’s gotten better every day, and now has a routine where she goes out around 2 or 3 a.m., and then wakes up at 6 a.m. and other than that sleeps through the night.  I think she is going to be high energy but she is so loving and follows one of us around everywhere we go.  She knows her name, and yesterday we discovered treats at this local dog store that she will do anything for!  We also had her first vet visit yesterday and she was incredibly well behaved.  I also realized if we ever have daughters, we are in trouble because Sadie is a total Daddy's girl and has Patrick wrapped around her little paw (he is sitting next to me with her and just told her that "Every day is Natinal Sadie puppy day because she is the most beautiful puppy ever" ha!  After 5 days, we already see her as such a gift, and are completely in love with her.

Whole Foods: 

We went here yesterday and I have to blog about it.  For those who don’t know, Whole Foods was started in Austin and the flagship store is in the middle of downtown.  Patrick and I went yesterday and it is simply awesome.  I have never seen a more beautiful, upscale, enormous grocery store!  They have produce you wouldn’t believe, each section of fresh poultry, meat, or seafood is bigger than all three combined at a normal grocery store.   They also have two cheese sections with wheels of every kind of cheese imaginable behind the counter.  There are counters scattered throughout the store (I counted 4 and I couldn’t even take everything in) with ready to eat items (vegetarian? There’s a counter with all white bean and spinach salads, quinoa, veggie and gluten free lasagna).  There is an olive bar with 20 types of olives to pick from.  Fill your own container stations with various types of nut butters (peanut, almond, cashew you name it) and olive oils and vinegars so you can pick your size and try away.  Spices I’ve never even heard of.  Two separate wine tasting stations and a huge selection to chose from (including racks of eco-friendly wines and local wines from Texas).  A desert bar where you can select truffles, candy covered apples, anything chocolate covered from their chocolate fountain they have running.  It is truly insane and somewhat overwhelming! 

Adding to the greatness of this Whole Foods is that they also serve food here at three different sections throughout the store.  I saw sections serving sandwiches and salads and sections serving amazing looking pasta dishes, you can come here for lunch or dinner and have a variety of options to choose from.  There are bars at the sections as well and one main bar in the middle of the store.  All were PACKED!  We were there on a Friday around 5:45 and it seemed like the place to be, tons of people enjoying their happy hour at the grocery store… amazing.  There is a section made to be a coffee bar like setting as well, where several people were finishing up their workdays on their laptops and sipping lattes or smoothies.

All in all, I’d say we’re going to love this city.  We’re slowly but surely getting everything unpacked (all of our stuff didn’t fit on one truck which we didn’t find out until the day before the truck got here so the rest of our things arrived Monday – the movers have been the low point of this move).  Our house is starting to look like a home; we adore our new addition to the family, and can’t wait to explore more!  A friend of mine from college and her fiance moved here recently too and they're coming over before we go to dinner tonight so hopefully I'll get everything else unpacked today and will upload pics of the house soon.  Have a fabulous weekend everyone!