So I made a mini triangle trek around Texas this past weekend. Here’s a little map I drew (not to scale) to help put things into perspective.
I left super early Saturday morning (6:30 am woot woot) to get to San Antonio by 8. SA is only an hour south of Austin, so it was a pretty good drive. Attended podcamp all day Saturday – it was an interesting crowd with interesting ideas. I learned alot about what non-ad. industry people think of the digital media world which as a planner / strategist is pretty huge.
Oh! I had a first experience in SA. Eating a meal at a restaurant by myself. I realized I have never done this – not sure why. But I always thought it was sad when I saw people eating at restaurants by themselves. I could have just gone and picked up food somewhere…or starved (ha, kidding), but I figured, well shoot, this will be a good life experience. And it was. It was I think more awkward for the mesero than me when he asked if I was waiting for someone else to join and I just said (somewhat nonchalantly), nope, it’s just me!
Anyway, I went to one best, authentic, “janky” Mexican restaurants SA has to offer and ate some EXCELLENT tacos al pastor y horchata tambien! Yum, tengo hambre just thinking about it! (;
Here’s my food:
So after SA, I headed toward Houston. Let me just say that I like the drive from Austin – Houston so much better than SA to Houston. I-10 is just so damn boring….
El noche de Sabado fui a pasar timepo con mi amiga buena quien ahora vive n Houston. Fuimos a algunos bars, y fue bien, pero tengo decir que me gusta la escena del noche mucho mjeor en Austin que Houston. Sin embargo, fuimos a un bar que me gustaba mucho – eso es porque en el second floor, tuvimos un view magnifico de las luces de la ciudad y soy un huge sucker por las city lights! Check it out:
Oh! Also check this out – I drove to the top of Megan’s building Saturday before heading out – check out this view!!
Went to my family’s house on Sunday for my cousins’ recital – loved that I got to be there for that. They’re so freaking adorable and my aunt cooked up a feast! I actually think I’m still full, 3 days later.
Here’s a photo of one of the many little cities I passed through, driving back to Austin from Houston. Ahh. Much better than I-10 between SA to Houston! (=
So as I drove through about 7.6 million cities this weekend, I thought about the various cities I’ve been to here in Texas over the past year. I’ve also been thinking about Richard Ward / 22 squared and their friendship model…and how these cities apply to that model in terms of me and my relationship to them.
A friend was once telling me his theory on girls, which I actually quite agree with: there are two types of girls – the girl you can take out and the girl you can take home. Kinda funny, but mostly true, yes? Well, I see how this relates to relationships, but it also relates to cities as well. I’ve been to places that I think are beautiful and amazing in their own respects (New York and Montana, for example), but just aren’t compatible with my personality / goals / aspirations / lifestyle, etc.
So then I started relating this theory to the major Texas cities I’ve visited:
San Marcos is the fun cousin that you could go out with but not want to have the same lifestyle as. Dallas is the rich relative that has a ton of money but not so much personality or a lifestyle I admire. Houston is…hmm…the cool aunt and uncle…maybe that’s because I have a cool aunt + uncle there. (; I wouldn’t want to live there, but I sure do love visiting.
As for Austin? Well, I feel like Austin and I have been dating this year…getting to know each other slowly but surely. It’s been a solid year, we still have alot to learn about each other; however, this first year has been pretty smooth and the chemistry is certainly there. Go us. (;
What else? Well, in other exciting / completely unrelated news, I’ve ruled out botanist as a career path. Just look at the plants on my balcony and you’ll figure out why pretty quick. (;
Also, my friend Tyler made his premier on the Bachelorette last night! Weird to see him on a reality show when I was just playing attack scrabble and drinking G + Ts with him and our friends a few weeks ago. Fourth person this year I know on a show – Brett + Laura on Survivor, Kelly on American Idol and now Tyler on the Bachelorette. Maybe I need to go on a show. Yeah right!
Anyway, that’s enough ranbling for now…time for the trail and then some Ephraim Owens at the Continental Club. Such an outstanding musician and equally bomb.com venue. Woot.
