SSS: Days 15-21 (Lost in Austin)

Our trip to Austin was the largest speed bump in my self-stitched challenge. Being on vacation and not having casual self-stitched items was one issue and our luggage being lost for 3 days was the other problem. When I thought about losing my new Some Kind of Wonderful Pendrell blouse and my black & white sheer blouse, I was so upset. Thankfully we eventually got our luggage but I was relegated to shopping for some new items to wear for the first couple of days.

That’s the bad news but the good news is that Austin is a great city. The people are so friendly and the vibe is fantastic. In the photo above you can see me outside the field house where the TV show Friday Night Lights was shot. It’s one of my fave shows and Stein surprised me by planning an entire tour of the filming locations from the show. We quoted lines and reminisced about our friends from the fictional Dillon, Texas.

The main reason that we were there was to attend the Austin City Limits festival. 3 days of great bands, good food and finally some rain to the drought suffering state.

Bright Eyes (Conor Oberst) was one of the bands that we saw.

One of the few self-stitched items I wore. Butterick 5355. A sheer blouse in a black and white geometric print. I was outside Ruby’s BBQ. Isn’t the building colour gorgeous?

I had a delicious crawfish étouffée and told the owner it was fantastic. She sent me the recipe by email! Can you believe it?! I told you they were nice.

We took the bat viewing boat tour. 1.5 million bats live under the Congress Bridge and come out at sunset to look for food. This is a pic of our tour guide, Tony. We also ended up sitting by a group of Canadians from our city. Such a weird coincidence. I have video of the bats. I may provide a link later if you are into that sort of thing.

Cazamance is a food cart that we heard about on the Food Network on a show called Eat St. The owner came over to talk to us. He is from Senegal West Africa and moved to Austin for a better life for his family. Wonderful, warm guy. He said he gets emails from Canadians since the show aired. It hasn’t aired in the US yet. Once it does he will be busier than ever. The food cart is parked under a tree and there are picnic tables and AstroTurf on the ground. Lights strung up and an open air bar next door where you can get your drinks makes the spot beautiful and romantic.

Another reason we went to Texas was to tour Cowboys Stadium. My husband has been a Dallas Cowboys fan since he was 12. I surprised him with VIP tour tickets so we got to see the whole stadium including the locker room and got on the field where we threw a few passes at each other. The photo above is my pin-up shot.

Just in case I wanted to stay I found a job.

What I’m listening to: Travelin’ Song by Bright Eyes