Full Heart

What a weekend. A beautiful, joyful, Austin-y weekend that has been jam-packed with new experiences and wonderful people. Three seniors from my high school (who are coming here next year!) came in for the weekend to get a feel for their future home. They arrived in Austin around 6:00pm on Friday and we never stopped moving. After a quick tour of SRD, we braved the traffic so we could eat at hopdoddy on South Congress - an Austin favorite. I had actually never been there before so it was my first time to eat there as well. The line was long but we all agreed that it was SO worth it. It just made our burgers taste all the better. I opted for, as did Becca, the Janis Joplin veggie burger, piled high with toppings like lettuce, tomato, avocado, sprouts, and pickles. It was wonderful and definitely left me very satisfied.

After dinner, we ventured down South Congress a bit and we just had to make a stop at Big Top Candy Shop, a place you might remember from when Gayle and I went there a couple months ago. We looked around and of course, couldn't walk out without some candy!

Having fun at the Big Top Candy Shop!

I also had to take them to the famous "i love you so much" wall so that they could get a picture - such an Austin thing to do!

Naturally, we had to have dessert, and lucky for me, they are also big fro-yo lovers and were hoping to try some of Austin's fro-yo, so we headed to Yogurt Planet before going back to SRD to watch old Mary Kate & Ashley movies. Yes, we really did that. Hoppin' Friday night for us!

Mint Chocolate Chip topped with blueberries, strawberries, and banana slices

Saturday morning came bright and early as we took a little long tour of the UT campus. I wanted to show them around so that they will have some idea of what to expect when they arrive in the fall. We walked all over - from the business school to west campus to the Co-op and Tyler's on the drag. I think we literally walked for two and a half hours - we were pooped and ready for lunch!

We caught a glimpse of the lucky albino squirrel - let's hope it works for my test this week!

Hannah, Becca, and Katie in front of the tower!

We met a friend at Food Heads, an outdoor sandwich shop, which I have been meaning to go to for FOREVER, so I was really glad for the excuse to get to go on such a beautiful day. There were so many delicious-sounding sandwiches, but in the end I opted for the chicken sandwich with avocado, pickles, lettuce, and tomato. I will definitely be going back many, many more times to try everything on the menu, as it basically right across the street from my house next year. SCORE!

After a quick change of clothes, we headed about 15 minutes down the road to a rowing dock on Town Lake to rent some paddleboards. It was the absolute perfect day for it, and we had the best time SUPing (Stand Up Paddleboard) and tanning in the middle of the lake. It was so relaxing and we all agreed that we could do that everyday and never get tired of it!

Photo courtesy of Katie Grooms

We were hungry yet again, so I took them to one of my favorite food trailers in Austin. Austin is famous for its wide array of food trailers, and I don't think I have ever been to one that wasn't selling something delicious. We wanted something refreshing and cool on this hot and sunny day, so we opted for Bananarchy - a trailer that specializes in frozen bananas dipped in chocolate, peanut butter, or white chocolate, topped with any nuts, cookies, granola, etc. They absolutely hit the spot and we were ready for a little bit of downtime before heading out yet again for more Austin adventures.

Around 7:00, we headed to Whole Foods (my favorite!) to pick up some dinner to enjoy as we watched the sunset from Pennybacker Bridge off of Loop 360. We got there just in time for the sunset - and to witness a wedding! We felt a little bit creepy intruding on and watching the wedding, but it was so cute, we just couldn't take our eyes away!

Pennybacker Bridge 

No filter, Austin is just that beautiful!

We had planned on meeting up with another friend once he got off work, but we wanted some dessert to wash down our dinner, so at about 10:00, we got in the car and drove to Tiff's Treats for a couple tiffwiches and a brownie sundae. Tiff's Treats are famous in Austin, and a location just opened in Houston last week. The cookies are fresh-out-of-the-oven and oh so warm and delicious. The tiffwich is a scoop of Blue Bell ice cream sandwiched between two cookies of your choice, and the brownie sundae is a warm, gooey chocolate chip brownie with a scoop of vanilla ice cream on top - both are such winners!

We ended up meeting a couple friends at Magnolia Cafe around 11:30 before hitting the hay at 1:00 in the morning. It was a jam-packed day that was full of cool Austin-y things. I took them to church at Austin Stone this morning before they left, and it was so awesome. They are excited to get to experience that every Sunday next year!

All in all, it was probably one of the busiest, most fun weekends that I have had in a while. We got to try a little bit of everything and the fun never seemed to stop! It was so sad to say goodbye to them, but I hope they left with more excitement than ever to live in this awesome city!

Sorry for this novel of a post, but it was a novel of a weekend! Enjoy this beautiful Sunday!