Engaged -- a picture post

I will soon share the story of my engagement, but while I edit that post, enjoy some pictures as a teaser :)

Texas Three Step - Part 3: Fort Worth (and Pictures!)

Today's post will be a short one -- after the night in Arlington, we headed to Fort Worth to meet my sister for lunch.  She lives downtown in a really cool apartment complex that is surrounded by an outdoor mall-type area.  We ate at Rodeo Goat -- a cool burger place nearby.  They have a head-to-head burger competition on the menu, which is a fun way to feature two of the best burgers.  I had the Salted Sow and greatly enjoyed it.  Since this isn't a very long post, I'll throw in some pictures to make it worth your while.

Cute little bar in front of a giant high-rise mid-construction -- typical Austin

The Tiniest Bar in Texas isn't that small, guess everything is bigger

Austin scenes

Container Bar

Rainey Street

Rangers Stadium

AT&T Stadium and the Festivities

Texas Three Step - Part 2: Arlington

When we last left our adventurers, they were in Austin for a wedding.  Having known that this wedding would be the Saturday before the NCAA basketball championship, they made plans to be in Arlington that Monday for the big game...

Ok,  I can't use third person the entire post.  We did go to Arlington on Monday, theoretically to go to the championship game.  We kept perusing stub hub for tickets, but the available tickets were fairly expensive (for obvious reasons) and far away from the court. The game was in Cowboys Stadium (officially AT&T stadium) which is a gigantic arena and one could end up miles from the court at the highest points.  Plus, the game was Connecticut-Kentucky, and not one that I cared to see that much.  S's beloved badgers had lost in a heartbreaker on Saturday, in the same fashion as UVA and UNC had lost that year.  This basketball season took years off of my life, I do believe.  Spoiler alert: we did not go to the game.  But we didn't know that until just a few minutes before tip off.

We headed to the stadium area, which of course I had never seen before.  The stadium where the Rangers play is right next to AT&T so we got to see both of those (from the outside).  They had a booming pre-game party, which I wish we had gotten to earlier, but we were (unsuccessfully) trying to meet up with my sister in Fort Worth (see upcoming part 3).  We never did figure out if you had to have tickets to enter the actual party, but we heard the band playing as we were standing to the side of the stage.  At first, I thought it was just a band playing covers, but eventually S asks, "wait, is that actually Kid Rock?" Yes, it was.  The pre-party featured live concerts by Kid Rock and the Killers, so note to future NCAA goers, go to the pregame party, it's worth it.

We watched fans go into the stadium area for a while and checked stubhub to see if any enticing offers arose.  We noticed that many fans were not wearing UConn or UK gear, and some weren't even wearing basketball gear! What a funny situation to just wear any type of sports gear to the biggest college basketball game (well, maybe a three-way tie between the two UNC-dook games) of the year.
The sky began to ominously darken and clouds were rolling in right before tip off so we began to look for sports bars nearby.  When the temperature suddenly dropped and it looked like a tornado might hit any minute, we ran for the closest establishment, a random Mexican place.  It was practically empty, save for a few employees from other restaurants who seemed to be visiting their friends at this one.  We enjoyed the game there, and luckily Kentucky lost.  I am glad we saved the money we would have spent on the game and just enjoyed ourselves with some enchiladas instead.  Stay tuned to see what our adventurers will do next!

Texas Three Step - Part 1: Austin

Hi friends and readers!

I am writing this post on a lovely Memorial Day Sunday, looking back on another warm trip, to Texas! I'm calling this the Texas Three Step, which is a nod to the three cities we visited while we were there.

Step One: Austin
We headed to Austin first, for a wedding.  I LOVED Austin.  It reminded me of a bigger Asheville, probably not a coincidence since Asheville models themselves off of Austin's set up.  The city is in the midst of expanding, while trying to keep its local spirit, and the evidence of that struggle was all around (and not just in the iconic "Keep Austin Weird" stickers).

Lodging: We stayed two nights with one of Scott's friends and one night in the Stephen F. Austin hotel.  The hotel was very nice, but a little out of our price range normally, particularly without free wi-fi.  That happens to be a pet peeve of mine in today's world of almost ubiquitous internet.

Food: obviously there are clear to-dos for food when you get to Texas: burgers, tex mex, and barbecue.  We tried to hit all the major food groups.  For burgers, we went to Jackalope.  It was a quirky little place, that had Back to the Future playing in the background and people taking shots at noon (Austin REALLY parties).  The burger was great though.

For Tex Mex, we tried this place a little off of the main stretch for Mexican/Pacific fusion food - Hula Hut.  Their gluten free options were not bountiful, but they knew what they were talking about at least.  Not my favorite place, but it was fine.

My favorite meal was Bangers (not the Miley Cyrus tour, thank goodness).  It was a delicious sausage place with a large beer menu and family style tables.  It was on Rainey Street, a street of old houses converted to bars and restaurants -- a bunch of those places are being bought out by apartment complexes so it was cool to visit that before the culture changed too much.

Nightlife: Austin has some great and quirky bars.  We went to Key Bar a few times, on West 6th street.  It was nice to be outside on their porch, since we had left a chilly Philly behind.  We also visited the Tiniest Bar in Texas, which seemed normal-sized to me, but I guess everything IS bigger, there.  My favorite was the container bar, literally built of shipping containers (on Rainey street).  I can imagine that this would be a little stuffy in the heat of summer but for an April evening, it was perfect.

I will post pictures and the rest of the trip soon.

Spring Break, or Something Like That

The worst part about full-time employment is the lack of regular breaks, like summer or spring break.  The best part is having the resources to buy trips, particularly now that my friends are spread around the country.  The even better way to do this is to buy other things, get points from those things, then get the trips for free.  Thus, how I went to Orlando for practically nothing.

I am a very brand loyal person.  It takes a lot for me to switch coffee places or clothing stores, once I've found something I like.  This makes for great points-earning situations.  I got two credit cards recently: one for Marriott, and one for US Air.  For the US Air, I waited until a deal was offered on a flight, because usually these deals offer more miles in a smaller amount of time (as long as I used the credit card for most of my purchases within that time period). The card not only earns points more quickly, but also makes redeeming the points easier, since award travel requires fewer points for card members.  It also comes with a $99 companion ticket once a year.

I think I also got a deal from Marriott, but just in the mail.  We frequently stayed at Marriott hotels growing up, because my parents are Platinum there, and that means the incredible club level experience.  This usually means breakfast, appetizers, dessert, drinks all day (mostly diet coke), and free internet/computers.  By getting the credit card, I automatically got silver status, and a certain amount of points as well.  Silver only offers a few perks, but the card also makes it easier to get to gold.  Plus, the card comes with a free night voucher.

So with these credit cards, I earned some major points right off the bat.  I used the US Air points for my flight and only had to pay $35 for a round-trip to Orlando.  I used the Marriott points for a weekend stay at a hotel very close to Universal studios.  My friend and I went to Islands of Adventure, including the new Wizarding World of Harry Potter.  It was so much fun, and I am looking forward to returning when they expand the Harry Potter section this summer. I would suggest drinking a butterbeer (despite the name, non-alcholic) but I heard there may be gluten in the frozen topping, so be wary.  For dinner, we ate at Antojitos, the mexican restaurant at city walk.  It was delicious and they knew their stuff when it came to gluten free. 

The next day we did some damage at the outlet stores.  For consistency, I spent the most money at Ann Taylor, my favorite clothing store of them all.  I told you, very brand loyal. 

Name change and Nashville trip

First things first, I decided on a new name: Go North, Young Woman.  Unless Horace Greeley's descendants are carefully examining the internet, I don't think I'll have any trademark issues.  My move north has been the major thing affecting my life as of late so I think the name works well.

That's not to say I won't be talking at all about traveling.  In fact, I have a number of trips planned for the next couple of months.  My most recent trip was to Nashville to visit a friend in her last semester at Vanderbilt law.  It was her birthday weekend and I wanted to visit Nashville (for the first time!) before she graduated.

I could not leave early from work so I got to Nashville around 9 pm CST.  I even left a few minutes late from work and had a hard time getting to the train/finding a cab.  The ride to the airport was a bit nerve-wracking because of that.  My friend was on crutches and we were both a little tired.  Thus, we decided to stay in on Friday night.

Saturday was a jam-packed Nashville-filled day.  We started with brunch at Fido, a dog-themed brunch place.  It looked like a pet store from the outside, with an old sign on top of the actual restaurant's sign.  The table markers were all pictures of local dogs, with little facts like "my dog sneezes a lot when he gets excited."  I got a steak omelet with a side of cheese grits.  I definitely recommend the cheese grits, they were creamy but also had a bit of a kick.  The kick wasn't until the end of the bite, so it didn't obscure the actual taste of the grits. 

The view from the window at Fido

We went to Bookman Bookwoman after that.  BMBW is a cute little bookstore owned by a husband-wife duo.  It is essentially two bookstores in one.  I bought The Southerner's Handbook: The Guide to Living the Good Life, published by Garden and Gun.  I am sure I would not have bought this book if I was still living in the South, but it was a nice reminder of my roots.

Next, we went to the Ryman Auditorium for a tour.  It is called the "Mother Church of Country Music" since it originally began as a church.  Once Lula C. Naff took over the management, she used it as a multi-purpose venue, hosting ballet, opera, political fights, and boxing.  It later was the host of the Grand Ole Opry radio show when the show hit it off in popularity.  We took a backstage tour and heard stories about Patsy Cline, Johnny Cash, Hank Williams, and Minnie Pearl.  It was a fascinating tour, and our tour guide was fantastic!

We watched the Carolina game after that at the Crow's Nest.  It was pretty unremarkable, although Carolina won the game. Yay!

Next stop: the Bluebird, a Nashville icon.  The bluebird is an "as seen on tv" landmark, as it is prominently featured on the hit tv show Nashville.  The cafe has an in-the-round setting on many nights.  This means that a few artists (in this case, two duos and a solo artist) sit in a circle and each play one song per round, going around in the circle again and again.  They all harmonize with each other, and talk in between the songs, which makes for a nice collaborative atmosphere.  It was a very intimate atmosphere, where the artists could hear our normal conversation, which was much different than other concerts I've been to recently. We did not have reservations, but the venue has a standby-line which we used.  It was much colder in Nashville than I expected it to be, but we survived the cold and hunger, and were two of maybe 25 people to get access to the show.

This particular night featured David Bradley, Justin and Jamie, and Chasin' Jayme.  They also brought two different solo artists up during the night, and on the last song, David's wife joined in the harmony.  Both guest artists were spontaneous invitations: one was an old friend that they had spotted in the audience and the other was a newcomer to the Nashville scene.  One of the guys was having a hard time with his guitar, so they needed to stall in order for him to fix it.  David (who was sort of emcee-ing this production) announced that he had been talking to someone before the show that said he had just moved here and was trying for a music career.  He got to come up and sing two songs, which his mom (who was with him) greatly enjoyed.   

The Bluebird's in-the-round session

After the bluebird, we still had much if the night ahead of us.  To celebrate my friend's birthday, we put our names on the list at Patterson House, a speakeasy-reminiscent bar.  The wait there was about an hour so we walked (or hobbled) to Red Door Tavern.  This was more of a college bar, and is where I felt old for the first time.  It was incredibly loud and crowded and not many people seemed particularly interested in helping someone on crutches navigate to a table.  We only stayed there for one drink, partially because of how long it took the bartender to notice me at the bar. 

Patterson House was a great departure from that atmosphere.  It was quiet: the seating area was segmented off from the waiting room by a large curtain.  We sat at the bar, which was in the middle of the room, so had seating on all four sides.  There were also many niches where larger parties could sit at tables.  The speakeasy atmosphere was very cool, from the bartenders' attire to the crafted cocktails.  I had an amazing bacon old fashioned and we ate an order of deviled eggs.  I told them it was my friend's birthday so they brought out half an order of their house-made doughnuts, which she said were incredible.  I think the wait is worth it at this place, particularly since if you have a large party, they will text you when your table is ready.  We had heard that there might be a picture-taking ban here, so we were scared to take too many, but got a few of our food, of course. 

Birthday donuts!

She wanted me to see Broadway at night so we went to Robert's Western World next.  This completed the spectrum of all the various music places we went to: a honky tonk was the last space on my Nashville bingo.  The band all looked like they were imitating a certain artist: the lead singer looked like Johnny Cash and the keyboardist had his hair styled like Jerry Lee Lewis.  This was mostly a good place for people watching, since we couldn't actually dance.  We even saw one guy that was dressed up just like Sgt. Pepper. The crowd was a little older, but everyone was very friendly, and almost everyone else was dancing at various intervals. 

On Sunday, we decided to have a more relaxed day.  We went boot shopping in the morning, and if you are looking to buy multiple pairs of boots at one time or have multiple people looking to buy boots, Broadway is your best bet.  Tons of places were having multi-boot deals.  We both ended up buying a pair of boots at Betty's, where the boots we wanted (the same pair) were on a good sale (one that did not require multiple purchases.)

Our final stop was Pinewood Social, another hipster-y spot.  This was a restaurant/coffee shop/bowling alley that would soon add a bocce ball playground and a pool -- a true all-in-one. I did not love the coffee, but I added almond milk, so I may blame it on that.  I got the smoked trout omelet and my friend got the buckwheat waffles.  We agreed both were incredible.  

Pinewood menu

These cans were an integral part of the decor, including their use as bill holders

Bowling alley

Paint cans lined up alongside the bowling lanes.  I thought the heart was cute until I looked closer

I will definitely go back to Nashville, it was a very fun city with a variety of things to do. If you like music, even if country music isn't necessarily your thing, it's definitely a bucket-list destination.

All the Small Things

I have been thinking about small changes recently.  It is the end of January and many resolution-ers may have already faltered or have gotten frustrated by their goals.  When you think about how much there is to do in a day, it is easy to see why! I am beginning to think that enacting smaller changes and building on those in small increments is much better than trying to revamp one's entire life in a day.  (I did not come to this conclusion on my own, see Nerd Fitness's take on the issue, in its typical, nerdy way).

What am I starting with? Here are a few small changes I'm making:

• Green Tea: Particularly when I sit at my desk all day, drinking a mug of green tea is super easy to do...and reduces the temptation for me to have a diet coke! The health benefits of green tea are well documented so I will not go into too much detail, but it is definitely something that helps me feel better about myself at the end of the day.
• Flossing: No, it wasn't the news that this is the single best thing to do for your heart health that convinced me to start flossing (also, I found out that was not true while writing this post)...it was the three cavities my dentist recently found.  I despise going to the dentist, for the usual reasons, and the news of a repeat visit to handle that finally made me change my ways.  I have now been flossing nightly, at least 5-6 times a week -- small changes, right?
• An exercise ball at work: I technically have not started this, but I will starting soon.  The many dangers of sitting all day have been in the news recently, and I decided I need to change something.  I am not a big fan of standing, as a general concept, nor does the idea of a treadmill or exercise bike desk sound appealing.  The one thing I think sounds interesting is the bike that also powers your computer, but it is a bit out of my price range.  I decided instead to buy an exercise ball to sit on.  It should encourage me to move around a little more, and engage my core rather than let it atrophy while I bill hours. 
• Reading every night: This is something I should have gotten in the habit of doing a long time ago.  It helps me now that I have the Kindle app on my iPhone so I do not have to deal with the worry about keeping up with a book when I travel or anything.  I am currently reading A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway, since I have heard his style is also good for lawyers.  
• Note cards on the bathroom mirror: This may be my most unusual habit.  I have a fairly large bathroom mirror so I will put things I'm trying to remember on note cards and post them to the mirror.  I have a few bible verses up there to commit to memory, as well as the tongue twisters and verbal warmups from Tongue-Tied America, a book written by two of my UVA professors.  A good lawyer should, theoretically at least, have good verbal communication skills. This is the way I am attempting to improve mine.

These small changes will hopefully become routine, and then I can find other small ways to increase my health and happiness.  What small changes are you making in your daily life?