Girl’s Fun Day and Rot Rally
I have such a fun group of friend. At Christmastime, one of my fabulous friends found a groupon for an hour at a photo booth. Being that this sounds interesting, she got one for her family and another one for her friends. Last night, we made a plan for six of us to head over to South Austin Gallery and have a good time taking silly pictures. I envisioned us all smashed in to a photo booth with silly hats on, but this was much more. They had a professional camera and a white backdrop and all of us got to dress up with silly props and take fun pictures. I can’t wait to see how these pictures turn out.
After the photo shoot was over, we headed over to the Rot Rally Parade. I have lived here for 6 years and I’ve never been in town on the weekend of Rot Rally. We went to watch the parade at the Stephen F. Austin Hotel on Congress street because that is where my friends always go to watch. When we got there, we found out that they had finally gotten smart and were charging to get out on the balcony. My beautiful friend started talking to the door man and he asked if we were sitting over there, so she said yes. He told us he had just gotten word that we were allowed to go out there for free. I’m not really sure where he got the word, but we took it! We grabbed our other girl friend and went out on the balcony and watched the parade from start to finish. As we were watching, our husbands got there and my beautiful friend got them in for free too! OMG! She saved us so much money last night!!! lol! The parade was probably the coolest thing I’ve ever seen in Austin. There were thousands of motorcycles up and down the street. They end the parade by parking them all in the center of Congress. It was so much fun! I hope we get to do this again next year. Maybe I’ll get my Vespa working and go out there and ride with them.
Motorcycles everywhere you look!
Motorcycles as far as you can see. All parked down Congress with the state capitol in the background.
Beerfest
I had been looking forward to Beerfest for several weeks after we bought our tickets through Urban Dealight. I had no idea what to expect and I didn’t even try to research what it was going to be about. I knew what I needed to know. There was going to be beer and bands. Beerfest started at 2:00, so we all loaded up the two trucks and at 1:30 we headed that way. When we got close, we found that they only had one entrance to get in, so we waited in traffic for about an hour and a half. Finally, when we were getting closer to the entrance, they opened up the entrance we had already passed. We decided it was still faster to turn around to go in that entrance and turned around. Once we were finally in the gates and parked, we walked to another line. There was a guy there with a sign that said “Linefest”. We waited in that line for another 30 minutes. So it took us about 2 hours to actually get IN to Beerfest. That’s ok though. We were still in good spirits and ready to go try some beers and listen to some music.
They had it set up that there were rows of beer tents that had different beers that you could try. At first we decided the strategy was to walk up and down the aisles and try different ones that looked interesting. We quickly abandoned that strategy after we waited in a line for another 30 minutes. We decided to try the beers that had the shortest lines. Of course these were booths that had the beers that you drink on a regular basis like Dos Equis and Corona. I never even heard any bands.
We finally decided that the best idea was to run to HEB and pick up a bunch of random beers and go back to our friend’s house and create our own beerfest. This was much more fun and the food was much better. I even helped out by starting the coals that got the grill ready. I think next year we will all opt out from the official beerfest and just have another private beerfest at one of our houses!!
Spring Carnival time!!
My favorite thing about going to carnivals and other fundraising events is the SILENT AUCTION!!! Tonight is our school carnival and I can’t WAIT to start bidding on some of these fantastic baskets. So far we have about 35 things that people can bid on. I’m pretty sure I’m going to go for either the candy basket or the salty snack basket! I can only imagine what Mike is going to start bidding on. I only hope that Avi and he don’t decide they want the same thing, or it could get really expensive for me!!
I’m also up to get pie thrown at my face tonight. I don’t really like having stuff on my face, but it really doesn’t matter since it’s for the kids. I know they get a kick out of throwing pies at all of us. (Maybe I’ll get a bunch of kids with bad aim!!)
Manor Downs
We love to go to the horse track. That is one of the things we miss about the Dallas area. We found out that there is a small horse track in Manor, so we had to go. It doesn’t have all the bells and whistles that Lone Star Park does, but the horses run around in circles just the same. It’s almost like being at a minor league game. My husband won about $250 on an exacta, so he didn’t seem to mind!
South By San Jose
The Small Stars at Jo’s.
Trail of Lights
The Trail of Lights at Zilker park is by far the most fantastic display of Christmas spirit that I have ever seen. Different companies from Austin sponsor or design a Christmas scene throughout the mile long trail. I took pictures of some of my favorite scenes and have the best ones on display. Some of my pictures were too dark.
One of my favorite displays was a bunch of handmade trees, each one with a different color lights. They had the music from Charlie Brown and the trees were synchronized to dance along with the music! It was awesome. I wish I could do something like that at my house! LOL!
Suprisingly, this is a free event. You can park at Waterloo Park for $5.00 and then take a shuttle for $2.00. We found a parking space in some fields behind the Chuy’s and walked over there for free. At the end of the trail we found a mailbox where you can make a donation, so we supported the event that way!
I’m really sad that I waited so long to see it, because now it is over and I would have liked to have gone back several times!
Blue Genie Bazaar
The 6th annual Blue Genie Bazaar is going on right now. This is a free event, however once you get inside that all changes. This is located on Springdale street behind the Goodwill. You actually have to go in through the Goodwill entrance to find it in the back. If you drive past the Goodwill, you have gone too far. We found that out the hard way!
Inside you will find very unique items of art. There are several different artists displaying their artwork in a variety of ways. There were a few interesting things that I thought I might be interested in, but it in no way is there bargain basement prices. They are definitely proud of their work. I found a couple of $20 – $30 onsies for my cousin’s newborn, but had to pass because they are $20 – $30, and babies just don’t get that kind of wear out of onsies!
37th Street of Lights
Austin people never do anything half-way. They always have to find a way to weird it up a little bit. I guess that’s why they have the saying “Keep Austin Weird”. Well, Christmas lights are no different. Every year the people that live on 37th Street put out their Christmas lights and people drive from miles around to see how they are displayed. They don’t just light up their houses, they use the electrical lines, cars, and anything else they can think to put a light on.
The neighborhood has been doing this since the 80’s and rumor has it that the people that started the tradition have already moved out and they come back every year to decorate since the new people are more yuppified and aren’t as into it. I have no way of knowing if this is true, but it sure makes for a good story.
To get there, you go from Guadalupe and turn on 37th. The Groovy Lube sign will point the way! We drove through, but walking would be much better so you can see the intricacy of all the lights and other displays.
Armadillo Bazaar
Fabulous after FIFTY 
