Happy Summer everyone!! Summer has officially begun with 100 degree temperatures, at least here in Texas. It’s so hot here that when I went to the sauna after working out, it just felt like I was outside. As much as I’ve wanted to enjoy the heat, I’ve preferred to stay indoors lately. That means trying new restaurants, bars, and my favorite, shopping! Just my usual hobbies but at new places in Austin and one even in San Antonio. My favorite event, and kind of out of the box thing I’ve done, was hula hooping down at Rainey Street! It’s so much fun, a great work out, and all while drinking! I also broke out some new outfits I picked up after being inspired by the amazing fashion in New York. I usually have a more modern, or laid back, style, but I’ve recently gone back to some of my old preppy fashion ways. I can’t wait to show you, so click the button below!
As soon as I got back from New York, I was sleep deprived and basically dead for days! It was so funny because I told myself I would get back into working out and go visit friends and all of that when I got back but instead I slept for days. I think it wasn’t until the fourth day that I got back that I actually felt like leaving the house. A week visiting New York will take a toll on you, let me tell you!
The first thing I made myself go to though was the Texas 4000 sendoff party. If you haven’t heard about Texas 4000, it’s definitely something you should look into it. It’s a bicycling group at UT-Austin where riders bike across the United States, traveling a little over 4,000 miles, to raise awareness and money for cancer research. It’s a great program, and I’m completely impressed by those who are participating in it. Although I don’t think I could ever do something like that (let’s face it, I could barely last a weekend camping), I think it’s absolutely amazing what these students are doing. I’m lucky enough to have a really close friend, Rachel DeSantis, from high school who’s participating in it. She has the Rockies route and is currently biking through places such as OK, CO, UT, and Canada before arriving to Alaska, where all the riders meet. I was able to see her at the sendoff party held on UT’s campus before she biked off later that evening. I’m so incredibly proud of her and can’t wait to hear her story when she returns back to Texas later this summer.
The same day, I finally went out with my family for my belated graduation dinner! I had absolutely no time between graduation and leaving for New York, so I was glad I finally found some time to celebrate. I chose to go to one of my favorites in Austin, Wu Chow, which is an upscale and delicious Chinese restaurant right off of 5th street and Rio Grande. I’ve been there once before with my friend while her family was visiting, and it was so delicious that I knew I had to go back. As delicious as Wu Chow is, I will say it’s a little pricey, especially if there’s not many people in your party. They focus on a table sharing like environment, meaning you usually order a plate of meat, a plate of noodles, etc. and you’re supposed to pass it around like you would at a large family dinner. It’s pretty unique in that way, but it’s really cool since you get to sample a lot of different foods rather than sticking to one entree. I’ve probably tried about half the menu already because of this! I can tell you my favorites to order here are the Honey Pecan Gulf Prawns (absolutely amazing and my favorite here!), the Dry Fried Local Green Beans (really good with a little soy sauce), Singapore Noodles, and the Two-Faced Crispy Noodles (with beef and chicken). My dad also ordered the Wok-Tossed Cumin Lamb and said it was really good, but I refuse to eat lamb since my name means lamb in Hebrew and I really would like to not eat myself. For drinks, I tried the Rum Punch and thought it was really good, and you get it in a Tiki glass! You really can’t go wrong with what you order here, so I highly recommend it!
Not too long after this, I finally took my family to Culinary Dropout for an early Father’s Day dinner! I rave about Culinary Dropout so much that I probably sound like a broken record, but it’s one of the best restaurants in Austin in my opinion! Rock Rose at the Domain is turning into a really happening spot, sporting various higher end bars, restaurants, and stores. I went so much to the area in the past couple of months that I personally am getting burnt out on it, but it’s a must see and go to place if you haven’t been already. My first, and highest priority, recommendation is to check out Culinary Dropout’s cocktails and food, it will not disappoint! My current favorite is the Turkey Pastrami sandwich and the San Padre Blueberry Daiquiri, which I’ve been repeatedly ordering lately.
I was also excited to wear my new Sam Edelman Valencia Pom Pom Sandals out! So, I’ve been tracking down these sandals for months actually. I think I saw these for the first time on Instagram back in March, and I really wanted them but I’m never a fan of paying full price! I went to Sak’s Fifth Avenue in New York and saw them in black on sale, but I didn’t like them on me as much as I liked the nude shaded ones. It wasn’t until I had a coupon to DSW and saw them on sale in the store to where I finally was able to get my hands on them! I think I actually got them for $12 with my coupon and the sale price, talk about a steal! They’re still not on sale online, but definitely look at your local DSW store (or wait and track them down online) if you want them too!
Sandals: Circus by Sam Edelman Valencia Flat Sandal
I then went down to San Antonio for the day to visit one of my friends from high school! It’s been a long time since I last went to San Antonio, so it was good to go back and reminisce a little. Although I’m not a huge fan of being from San Antonio, it’s sometimes good to go. I’ve been surprised with how much the city has been changing lately. Back when I lived there, there were very little restaurants and bars to go to that weren’t chains or mom and pop restaurants that have been there for decades. I absolutely love some of the small mom and pop restaurants, but not many people know about, go to, or have the sentimental value that I do. Lately, there have been a flourish of new places that have been popping up. I think they realize that the city has been getting old and lacking for some time, so there’s a lot of work going in to revitalize it. My friends who live there are always talking about places that I’ve never heard of! I was excited to finally go and try a restaurant I’ve seen before, but never actually had the chance to try, calledDown on Grayson. It’s actually pretty close to downtown at the Pearl Bewery, which is a nice little center that has a bunch of new restaurants and bars.This restaurant stood out to me the most because it’s right under highway 281 and has a really cute set up of black and white umbrellas outside. It’s actually really quaint with a modern feel to it. I ordered a margarita on the rocks, which was really good here, and the Crispy Chicken Sandwich. I really liked the sandwich too, but looking back, I think I should have tried something else. The sandwich is also somewhat spicy, and if you know me, you know I can’t handle spicy food. So, if I go again, I’ll definitely order something else! I also was excited that I got to wear a new romper that I love and snagged from Nordstrom! My friend also gave me a belated graduation present that included an adorable sunhat that says “Hello Sunshine”. It fits me so well (thanks Macdaddy!) and went perfectly with my outfit, so I was able to add it to my outfit last minute! Also, fun fact: the restaurant is actually a few steps from the old haunted house, Nightmare on Grayson. I had always wanted to go to that haunted house when I was younger, but wasn’t allowed to because of the area and of how scary it was supposedly. It was a huge tourist attraction around Halloween for years, even my mom went there when she was in college! It recently closed down back in 2012, and it’s now a West Elm from what I hear, kind of weird!
The next day, I was lucky enough to hang out with one of my old roommates who was visiting in Austin! We decided to go somewhere for dinner and happy hour and suggested to go to June’s. Neither of us had ever been there before, but we both wanted to check out the restaurants and bars in South Austin, so it seemed like a perfect match! I had seen a lot of good things about it on Instagram, and it definitely didn’t disappoint. When I got there, I realized it reminded me a lot of the small restaurants in New York! It was older, quaint, and had a very chic vibe to it. It’s a small place, but it”s in a prime spot; on the corner of South Congress and Annie St. The best part about it, is there shaded outdoor seating right on the side walk, so you get to see all the people and cars pass you by! Another great part of it is their happy hour. So the food here isn’t too expensive, but the deals you can get at happy hour are pretty generous compared to other happy hours! They offer 50% off all food and sparkling wine, which is amazing! They also offer $2 off all other drinks, if you’re not in the mood for sparkling wine. I ordered the June’s Punch cocktail, which was a little strong for my liking, but it was still really good! And I also got the Smoked Salmon Nicoise Salad. I was feeling a little adventurous (and a little like a whale after eating out so much lately), so I went outside my comfort zone to try something new! It turned out to be really delicious, and very filling to the point where I couldn’t finish it all. My friend ordered the Fried Chicken Sandwich and she really like it too, if you’re not in the mood to try something different! I also made sure to get a few cute pictures before we left.
If you watch any basketball, you probably know that the Golden State Warriors won the National Championship this year! Although I’m always a San Antonio Spurs fan first, for obvious reasons, I really like and support the Golden State line up and what the team is about. I especially enjoy watching Steph Curry, so I was really excited that they beat the Cavaliers! To celebrate, a couple of friends and I went out to Rock Rose and got a few drinks. I had bought a “Strength in Numbers” Warriors t-shirt last year during the finals, so I was excited to wear it and celebrate the greatest victory of all! We went to St. Genevieve and 77 Degrees. St. Genevieve is slowly becoming one of my favorite bars in town; it’s very laid back but upscale at the same time without breaking the bank. If you remember in one of my past posts, they offer an unlimited champagne fountain about once a month, which is an awesome event! Of course, 77 Degrees is always a favorite too. I probably go there way too much. At 77 Degrees, I ordered the Passion Fruit Swizzle (cue Passion Fruit by Drake), which literally tastes like a pineapple.
The next day was super exciting because it was the day the Container Bar offered hula hoop lessons! It was something adventurous and new that I was ready to try. A lot of my friends wanted to try it too, and I was so excited to have so many people that I love in one place. But anyways, the hula hoop lessons were a lot of fun! It’s held with Misty the Hoopstress who has been teaching hula hooping for years at Circle of Play. She was so nice and patient, especially since we didn’t know what we were doing half of the time. But she taught us all kinds of tricks, including ones with just our arms. I was much better at those since it reminded me of my colorguard days in high school. It was a lot of fun though, and I highly recommend anyone to go and check it out! Warning: below is a spam of tons of photos.
A couple days after Hula Hoop night, things started to ramp up and get crazy in my life! I moved out of my parents to a new apartment in Austin. I’m excited to be on my own in such a great place like Austin, and my apartment has been pretty perfect to me, but I’d be lying if I said I didn’t miss being at home. You think it’s such a drag to live with your family because you can’t have friends over, you’re not in a prime location, and there’s constantly someone around, but it’s actually not as bad as you think it is and you don’t realize it until you leave. I’m hoping I’ll adjust to living by myself soon, but it’s been a hard transition! Moving was the hardest part though. I never realized how much stuff I had until I had to pack everything, move it, and the worst part, unpacking it. I think I finally finished unpacking and putting everything away last week, and I moved out about a month ago!
After moving, I immediately started my job a couple days later. No exaggeration, it was immediately after I moved out. It was a really hard transition because it was so much at once. Looking back, I wish I would have prolonged my move or moved in a lot earlier, because it took me 2-3 weeks to actually feel rested again. Besides the move and work hours taking a toll on me, I’ve really enjoyed my job so far! I feel like I finally found a field that I will enjoy being in. As much as I like coding, I really don’t. I’m so thankful to have found a job where I’m not sitting behind a computer coding all day. Now, I’ll be working with financing and budgeting, but applying it to technology. It’ll be good to get that business aspect under my belt, and I’m excited to see what my first job will bring(:
Speaking of my new job, I obviously took it easy the first week because I was so tired and adjusting to my new work hours, but the week after started off in such a great way! First, my team had an offsite at the Oasis. The Oasis is a Mexican restaurant at the top of a hill overlooking Lake Travis. It’s a popular tourist site in Austin because it’s so beautiful. The food, however, isn’t too good. I wouldn’t recommend it for actual lunch or dinner, but it’s a really good happy hour spot! It was so much fun to not have to go to the office, but to work at a location like this. Afterwards, I wanted to celebrate having such a good day, so my friend and I went to go get drinks at Cain and Abel’s. So I know I had been counting down the days until I graduated, but I’m actually really starting to miss UT. I just miss being down there and being with my friends and all of that, not so much of the actual real work. Cain and Abel’s is in the heart of West Campus, where most UT students live, so it was nice to spend some time over there! I ordered the Texas Tea, which is probably what they’re most known for. It’s basically like a Long Island, but sweeter! It’s my go to whenever I’m there, so I highly recommend it! They also had a sign outside the bar making fun of how hot it is in Texas and West Campus right now, which I thought was pretty funny and took a photo of.
So, do you remember me talking about how much I love Green Light Social? Well I still do! I went back with a few friends from my internship last summer and it was a lot of fun. They didn’t have the fun things like the balloon animals like last time, but it was still a good time! We also stopped by Parlor and Yard, which is another cute bar on West Sixth. I’ve been there a few times before and I really like the music they play and the relaxed outdoor area they have. One thing I noticed, however, is that they have given me drinks before that taste rather strange. For example, I’ve ordered a cherry vodka sour there and a couple of them haven’t tasted very good. I ordered that drink, and once again it tasted weird, and I was sick all night and the entire next day. It was so gross, and I’m pretty sure it’s from that drink. I didn’t drink enough to get sick from alcohol alone, and I didn’t eat out anywhere, so that’s my assumption. Just a warning if you do decide to go here, because from now on, I’ll be ordering beer since they can’t really mess with that. Aside from that experience, I was excited to wear a new dress I bought from Francesca’s! I actually found it pretty cheap on sale (for only $20!) and it fit really well, so I had to get it. I checked out their new store at The Domain and they had a lot of good stuff in there.
The weekend after this is one of my favorites of the year, the Fourth of July!! I love all the American themed things and to just spend the weekend in the heat with drinks and hot dogs of course! I’m not sure why, but I’ve been craving hot dogs like crazy lately! So for this weekend, I spent it mostly with my family, since I’ve been homesick lately (even though they’re only 30 minutes away from me..). I went shopping with my mom at the Domain, and took her out to Velvet Taco. I originally tried Velvet Taco a few years ago in Dallas, when I lived literally right down the street from them, so I’m really happy there’s one in Austin now! I ordered the #2, Rotisserie Chicken (which my mom also got), and the #12, Slow Roasted Angus Brisket. Both were absolutely amazing and I love their tacos! I’ve also heard really good things about their queso and red velvet cake, but haven’t gotten the chance to try them yet!
On the Fourth of July, I didn’t do as much as I expected to do (probably because I was still so tired), but I managed to still celebrate! I first tried this newish ice cream truck called Cold Cookie Company. It’s located in the food truck park in West Campus, right off of Rio Grande and 26th. I’ve seen it on my Instagram feed for months, and finally got the chance to try it! I saw so much hype over their birthday cake ice cream, and I could see why. I ended up trying their birthday cake milkshake with pieces of a cookie monster cookie mixed in, also topped off with a cookie monster cookie. It was super filling but amazing. For actual dinner, I went to Frank, which is actually the first restaurant I had went to after moving to Austin about four years ago. They have absolutely amazing hot dogs, and their Ginger Cherry Limeade isn’t that bad either. I always order the Notorious P.I.G. because it’s a hot dog with bbq sauce and macaroni and cheese on it, and how could it get better than that?! Right after, we walked down to the Long Center to watch the firework show. Parking downtown gets crazy during holidays, so I managed to find a spot over by Frank and there was no way I was going to move! So we walked quite a bit but laid out our towels and waited for the show to begin. I love going downtown to watch the fireworks because it’s so beautiful with the cityscape in the background.
The last thing I wanted to include in this post is this past weekend where my friend visited from Dallas before she moves to San Francisco. She came over and stayed at my apartment for the weekend and was actually my first overnight guest (how exciting!). We had a fun and packed weekend. When she first got here, we headed over to Hula Hut, which is one of my favorite restaurants in Austin! Hula Hut’s a Hawaiian/Mexican style restaurant that’s on the lake, so it’s really beautiful! They have amazing cocktails; they’re all very fruity and tropical. I first ordered the Mai Tai, which was pretty good but it wasn’t exactly what I thought it was going to be. The drink was also very strong, which sometimes is a good thing, but I wasn’t in the mood. The second drink I ordered was the Blue Hawaiian, which I thought was super good! It reminded me of the blue coconut slushes they have at Sonic, with a little rum added to it! As for food, I ordered the BBQ Chicken Tacos with pineapple on the side. They’re really good, but to be honest, the best thing I’ve ordered there is the Hawaiian Fajitas. Whatever you get, it’ll be really interesting and you shouldn’t be disappointed! After, we headed out to West Sixth and went to all of the favorites, like Parlor and Yard and Green Light Social that I talked about earlier!
The next day we woke up really late, so we didn’t get to do as much as we hoped to! We started off with a super late lunch at The Park. The Park is a really good drinking spot and restaurant that gives off a sports bar like vibe. From what I hear, they also have amazing brunch specials. I personally have only been there in the evenings, but I still have always had a good experience. Last time I went, I ordered the Chicken Parmesan (my fave food!) and it was so amazing that it’s all I really order whenever I go there. They also give you a lot of food for the price, which is always nice. I also got a Sangria Fizz, which are really good and only $5 on Saturdays! The best part is eating all the strawberries at the end. What was really cool this time is that it started raining, and we were on the covered patio area, so they had clear tarps down and we were able to technically be outside and watch the rain, which I absolutely love. Afterwards, we did a little shopping at Nordstrom because of their Anniversary Sale. I didn’t expect to find much, but I found a lot of new clothes that were really cute for pretty cheap, at least by Nordstrom’s standards! If you haven’t checked it out, definitely go before all the good pieces are gone! After our shopping spree, we drove down to Epoch, aka one of my all time favorite places in Austin. It was a perfect day to sit out and have coffee with the rain, so I was really happy we went. I used to love studying there all the time, so now I try to go there when I can and just spend some time on my laptop or read a book.
Finally, we ended the night by going to Rainey Street once again. We got there pretty late since we had been thrown off by waking up so late. We started walking down the street when we noticed a new bar that’s appeared, called Unbarlievable. I didn’t even notice there was a new bar there until one of my friends pointed it out! There’s been a lot of construction and changes on Rainey Street, so I just figured a lot of the area was still under construction. We decided to head over and try it out. The whole bar is circus themed, which I thought was really cute! It still has the classic old home/Rainey feel to it though. The best part of this bar is the back outdoor area where they have fake grass, beach balls, and hula hoops. It’s a really chill environment and is nice since it’s brand new. After we checked it out, we headed to our favorite bar on Rainey, Container Bar. I feel like I’m always here, but in a good way. I always have a good time here and I love their cocktails! I’ve mentioned it before, but their Painkiller is one of the best cocktails I’ve ever had and I’m always ordering it. I actually got lucky and the bartender gave me a free drink, so I double-fisted for awhile throughout the night.
The next day, we actually woke up pretty early because we wanted to go to one of our favorite brunch places, Snooze A.M. Eatery. They have basically any breakfast/brunch food you could imagine, and it’s really good! They’re fairly new in Austin, but originally from California. What’s crazy is that this time, we had to wait an hour and a half before we were seated! That’s how good it is. Last time I went, it was on a Friday afternoon rather than this time where it was a Sunday afternoon. My advice is to go on a weekday if you can. After the wait, I immediately ordered a mocha (I needed caffeine really bad at this point). I also wasn’t sure what to order for food. It was one of those days where you kind of want normal food and protein, but sweet breakfast food also sounded really good! I ordered the Havana Daydreaming which is a sandwich with pork, ham, pickles, and eggs, last time, so this time I decided to go the other route. I ordered the OMG! French Toast, and it made me say omg. It was like normal french toast with strawberries and everything, but they added this cream in between the toast that made it so amazing. I couldn’t tell if it was breakfast or a dessert! I also got scrambled eggs on the side to add some protein. I should have taken a photo of my food, but I was starving by the time I got my food, so it didn’t even cross my mind! Snooze is always a good brunch pick, and I can’t wait to go back!
So far, I’ve been doing a lot this summer, and I’m so excited to see what the rest of it has in store! Until then,
xx,
Rachelle
