This weekend, my good friend Adam came to visit from Lake Charles, LA. It is one of my goals to convince him that moving here would be one of the best decisions he could ever make.

It was for me…it was for James. It was for many other people I know. How could he go wrong in taking the chance?

So, in my quest this weekend to show him some of the sites and how awesome this town is, I fell in love with Austin all over again…from the scenery, the interesting and offbeat things to do, the food, and the feel of the town.

Saturday morning, we stopped at Rudy’s for some breakfast tacos. I don’t know why it is, but I absolutely LOVE the coffee at Rudy’s…even more than…dare I say…Starbucks! Anyhow, he was a fan of the breakfast taco. Of course, he had the same reaction a lot of non-Texans do…”Tacos? For breakfast?”. So, he beheld the breakfast taco and it was good.

We then headed down to Town Lake…I mean Lady Bird Lake. I don’t think I can get used to calling it that, but anyway. It was a beautiful day…a perfect day. And, since Adam loves running, I thought that would be a big draw for him. Breakfast tacos before a walk/run is not the best idea, but we all survived.

So, then we went to the downtown farmers’ market, but just walked through quickly…they were all packing up. Apparently, they take it down at 1:00. But, James and I have been down there on a few occasions. It’s always interesting.

We went to Whole Foods next. I LOVE just looking at the breads, chocolates, and cakes. They are way to beautiful to eat…they’re like art. Now, I say that of course because they are off limits to me now…my Lenten sacrifice. *sigh* I miss chocolate. The parking garage was murder though…I think it took us almost 30 minutes to park. It wasn’t that there weren’t any spaces, it was that people trying to get out were trapped by people trying to get in and those waiting for people leaving to pull out of spaces, etc. What a mess! Note to self…stay away from there on Saturdays.

We also went to The Domain. I really have nothing to say about the Domain. Not that I have anything against the Domain, but I’m distracted by watching the Oscars while I’m writing this.

Saturday night, we went to see a local improv comedy group called Coldtowne. It was funny…very entertaining. They were doing this thing called Stool Pigeon where they have a local celebrity come in and tell short stories about their lives, and then the troupe performs some skits based on the stories. So, an Austin blogger called ‘Mean Rachel’ was the guest. I read her blog (www.meanrachel.com), and it wasn’t quite what I expected. Although, at the end of the performance, she did make a political endorsement of a local candidate, but I did not expect to see almost every post be political in nature.

We took Adam to Chuy’s last night and thanks to spilling half my margarita at dinner and getting a replacement, I was d-r-u-n-k by the time we got home. You’d think by age 31, I could hold my liquor, but I’ll always be a cheap date. Yeah, I don’t remember anything after that.

This morning, we went to Kirby Lane on 183 and had some yummy pancakes. We drove out on 360 and 2222 and went up to Mount Bonnell to check out some views. We also took Adam to Mansfield Dam. We did make a trip out to IKEA and the outlet mall as well.

Still, with all we did this weekend, I only dropped 70 bucks. Not bad! I’m not sure if we have Adam 100% convinced he should move here, but I know we did make our case.

Hey, kids!

Time for another post. Hmmm…haven’t really traveled anywhere recently, but have had a few things going on. Today, I actually just filed my taxes…so, good feeling. Especially since I’ll be getting a nice refund. Something to finance my future travels with.

We went to a new restaurant a couple of weekends ago…Mighty Fine. Burgers, Fries and Shakes. Y-U-M-M-Y!!!!! Yes, I love burgers…more than I should.

http://www.mightyfineburgers.com/

For those of you local to Austin, this place is owned by the same folks as Rudy’s barbecue. It has the same kind of layout, picnic table stye, and friendly, outgoing servers behind the counter. I give it 4 and a half stars! The fries are really good, but one order is definitely enough for two. The chocolate shake was scrumptious. And, of course the burger (cheeseburger, of course) was D-LICIOUS.

A Steak and Shake is going up near the outlet mall in Round Rock and we’ll be going there once it opens. I’ve never been to one of those, but James has and likes it.

I also was in a friend’s wedding a few weeks ago at Mercury Hall, just south of downtown. It was a quaint little place. Older place, wooden floors…was a very nice setting for a small wedding. It’s in a little wooded area and you would never tell it’s like a mile south of downtown.

We’ve been going over our calendars for the year, and it’s looking pretty busy. Looks like we’ll be taking a trip up to Oklahoma City in a couple weekends. I also have a family reunion coming up in the beginning of March in New Orleans. And…the marquee event of the spring…a trip to Las Vegas the first weekend of April.

I haven’t been to Vegas in 4 years, and that was the last in a string of work trips. James has never been and this is actually a work trip for him, but I’m flying out to spend the weekend. I’m excited! It will be great to go there for recreation for once (at least for me)!