Austin // Spring Break Part 1

Hiii everyone!!! I’m finally back from my 2 weeks of traveling! I have sooo much to catch up on! I can’t even begin to describe how much I’ve missed writing for my little space on the inter webs, but thankfully I had some awesome guest bloggers fill in for me! One last time I’d like to thank my awesome guest posters! 

Dani with Anything or Everything | Kelsey with How I Spent My Early 20s Wrong | Victoria on Nashville & NYC | Ashley with My Version of Therapy | Martha Kate with Why I Won’t Call You Skinny | Abby with Helpful Hints for Communicating with Parents | Kimberley with The Books That Changed Me

The first part of my Spring Break began on a Friday morning. A little bit after I had gotten up I got a call from my Mom telling me that my great granddad had passed away. It was expected news, but definitely unexpected. So that started things off on a rather sad note for me and my family. It put a little loop in my travel plans, but it ended up working out the best way possible. 

So onward I flew on Friday afternoon to Austin, Texas–my favorite city in the world. My uncle picked me up at the airport and took me to his house where I saw my Aunt and 2 year old cousin. It was a rainy day in Austin so we just took it easy that night.

Saturday morning my uncle and I went out to begin our South by Southwest festivities. Once again it was a rainy day in Austin, but we came prepared with rain jackets and umbrellas.

We started out at San Jose on South Congress and saw an amazing girl rapper from England, Kate the Tempest. The thing you have to know about SXSW music fest is that there are a lot of small bands/artists who come looking to make a break. They want to get seen to get signed to a record deal. It’s not a place with a ton of popular artists, thought lots show up as a surprise (Ludacris, Iggy, Miley Cyrus). So I may not mention everyone we see since most people won’t know them. Anyways, soon we met up with a cousin of ours who lives in Austin and went to grab some pizza at Home Slice.

 I had a slice of pepperoni pizza and could have had more, but I knew there would be more food and liquids consumed throughout the day. But that was one bomb piece of pizza.

 Next we were on to Yard Dog to watch more music. It was a small venue, but we saw some neat bands. Another aunt of mine who lives in Austin met up with us here. That’s one thing I love about Austin is all the family I have who live in the area. It was a mini family reunion.

 Somehow we ended up at Doc’s next where we sat down to grab drinks and a bite to eat. We didn’t know who was playing at Doc’s, but we were in for a good surprise. Luke Wade from a season on The Voice performed. Now I’m not a Voice watcher so I didn’t know the guy, but man was he good. He has some soul, that Luke guy does. And his lyrics can hit you pretty deep.

 Eventually we wandered back to San Jose and got to see The Ting Tings. You know the ones who sing they call me ‘Stacey’/ They call me ‘her’/ They call me ‘Jane’/ That’s not my name/ That’s not my name. They can really jam and put a lot of energy into air.

 We stayed for a few hours at the South by San Jose venue. They had some random people come onto play, so that kept us on our toes. To get into a lot of SXSW events you need a badge, so we stuck to the places we could get into for free hence the reason we were at San Jose most of the day.

The best part about SXSW is that we didn’t really have a plan for who we wanted to see. We just went with the flow, watching whoever we stumbled upon. We saw some really talented and impressive artists that day. Our best “stumble” landed us facing a stage where Bob Schneider performed. If you know my Aunt and Uncle who I stayed with, you would know they love Bob Schneider. So we were happy to say the least to see him.

After Bob we went and hung out at Aussies for a little bit. Aussies is a restaurant/bar that has beach volleyball! I would love to go back there during warmer weather and play.

Before we knew it we were on our way back home. The next morning we had to get up and head to a little Texas town for the services for our granddad. 

I said earlier that Austin is my favorite city and that still rings true. Ever since I was little there has always been something that draws me to that place. Anytime I’m there I never want to leave and I’m filled with a desire to spend more time there. It’s always been a special place in my heart and this short trip was no exception. All of my family members who live there have told me that they think I belong there and I can’t help but agree. It’s always been a “freeing” place that I picture myself living in. But we’ll see. For now it’s just a lovely place in my mind that I always wonder about. As for SXSW, I loved it and would love to go again with a little more time next time.

I’ll be back later this week with more on my second half of Spring Break and my school trip to San Diego!

How was your Spring Break?

Have you ever been to Austin?

Is there a place that keeps calling you back to it?