Heather’s Haven Conference Recap

Hey guys! Remember me? I’m still alive. I’ve really enjoyed having almost three weeks off, but I’m secretly ready to go back to work. Don’t tell anyone! I mean, if I could work one week and be off a week that would be optimal, but that’s not going to happen. Not in my lifetime! So, in between weeks off I went to a little thing called Haven Conference. I’m a sophomore this year, not a freshman, but I was still a teeny bit nervous about going. If you recall, we actually started this little blog at Haven Conference LAST year! (We know of a few people that started one while at Haven this year too – we set a good example, apparently.)

Last year, I only went to DIY sessions at Haven. This year, I leaned very heavily towards the blogging sessions – in fact, I think I only went to one DIY session this time! Last year, I spent all of my time with our group that went to Haven together and had everything planned out. This year, as much as it pained me, I didn’t make ANY dinner plans at all. If you know me, you know how much I love planning trips and all that comes with it. For several reasons, I just didn’t do it this year. My goal was to eat dinner with strangers (now friends!) and I did it! Every single meal was shared with at least 1-2 people that I did not know before we arrived in Atlanta. Last year, I was too chicken to walk up to bloggers that I admired and introduce myself. This year, no one was safe (especially during the Ryobi/Home Depot party – I’m sure the other girls will cover that in great detail…) but you know what? I met SO MANY PEOPLE that I never would have even had the nerve to LOOK at last year! Walking into a room full of tables half full for breakfast is very intimidating, even at 35 (almost 36. Sheesh. In 1 week.) – flashbacks to elementary school ran through my head. One of the things I love most about Haven is that everyone is either really nice, or they’re really great actors/actresses. I don’t hear that about most conferences, so I think we Haven Mavens must just be extra super awesome badasses.

Photo courtesy of Ballard Designs

Our flight out of Dallas left at 6:15 AM, so we just stayed in a nearby hotel (shout out to Quakecon – that answered SO many questions about all the people we saw there) and got a ride to the airport at the ungodly hour of 4:30 AM. We landed, somehow made it through the Depths of Hell relatively unscathed, got our rental car, and got the heck out of there.

We had lunch, picked up some snacks and water (and wine if we’re being honest) and finally arrived at the hotel for the conference! The hotel will get its own post later, but I’m reserving judgment right now. We rested for a little bit, and then went downstairs to register and get our awesome swag bags! Ballard Designs really went all out for us – I love the bag AND everything in it.

After that, it was time to get real. Get real nervous, that is. Tarah and I went down to socialize while Sars had to take a conference call for work (work schmerk) – it was so intimidating. Luckily, Jennifer from Celebrating Everyday Life broke the ice for us. She was so nice and she has her own freaking magazine, y’all!

That night there was a cocktail party put on by Homes.com and Forrent.com – our friend Megan ended up winning an iPad mini! We went to dinner with some new people and went straight to bed. We were whooped!

The next day was a blur. Ana White was the opening speaker (she was great) and she just set the tone for the whole conference – if you are not passionate about what you’re doing, people will be able to tell. I think we’ve all been guilty of that, whether it be blogging, working, anything – I can tell you I have blogged many times when I didn’t really care, and guess what? It is SO obvious to me in those posts. In my opinion, if you need to take a break, you should take a break (much like I did recently). Don’t do something JUST to be doing something. Do it because you want to and because you enjoy it. People will notice and people will remember you.

I took a few blog classes that day (those of you that don’t blog will not even care about this part, I promise) – Google Juice + SEO Tips with Brooke from All Things Thrifty and Court from Blog Builders – cutest brother and sister team ever. See, I have proof:

Okay, so that isn’t Court’s sister, that’s me. I took this picture to make Tarah jealous. It worked. Sorry not sorry.

THEN I got to participate in the Ballard Designs Bookcase Challenge – I was so nervous! Our team totally had the best bookcase and we won for the first day. Now I have $100 to spend at Ballard Designs.

Next, I took Designing Outside of the Box, led by Lindsay of Makely School for Girls, Mandi of Vintage Revivals, and Ashley of The Handmade Home. After that, I took Profitable Advertising with Myra of My Blessed Life, Sarah of Thrifty Decor Chick, and Beth of Home Stories A to Z.

We had a few minutes to change, and then rushed down for the Rustoleum cocktail party. Right after that, Ryobi threw a dinner party for all of us. It was a blast! We made lots of new friends and took lots and lots of pictures and had lots and lots of drinks. Ryobi sure knows how to throw a party! They are honestly the nicest company to work with – so friendly and so responsive. We were talking to them, and I told them how before Haven last year, I was scared to death of power tools – but after I got home, I bought myself a Ryobi Deluxe Combo Kit and love it. They mentioned that they were going to be in Texas the week after Haven, and of course they were going to be in Fort Worth (hello!?) – so once we discussed how close it would be to us, they asked what the next tool I wanted to buy was. Duh, a nail gun. They have a brand new one out and I NEEDED IT. The Big Boss Bill told me if I showed up on Thursday for their meeting, he would give one to me. GIVE me a nail gun. He made my week! (You better believe I showed up Thursday morning and they remembered me AND what I wanted – you can’t get any better than that!) I just love those guys and think they are the absolute best. I’m so happy that I’ve gotten to meet them and hopefully we can work with them in the future! I just can’t say enough nice things about those guys. (And obviously, they are goofy like we are…)

So, if you follow us on Instagram, I’m sure you’ve figured out that I had a little (lot) too much to drink, so here’s one picture. I reserve the right to delete any pictures that Tarah and Sars post, just FYI! Also – don’t let those girls tell you they weren’t drinking 🙂 We needed to cut loose a little, and cut loose we did!

Sadly, this wasn’t my only run-in with the lovely Atlanta Police Department. Story to come later on THAT one 🙂

The next day (oh, the headache – was it worth it? TOTALLY) was a full day of classes. My first class was I Heart Organizing with Chris from Just A Girl and Jen from I Heart Organizing. Then I took Working With Wood 101, led by Ryobi and Kreg Jig. That’s where I fell in love with the nail gun. I didn’t want to give it back to them! My last Haven 2013 class was Advanced Advertising with Beckie from Infarrantly Creative, Cassity from Remodelaholic, and Rhoda from Southern Hospitality.

We had a wonderful closing speaker, Bob Johnson from Habitat for Humanity. He made everyone cry a little (if you didn’t cry a tiny bit, you have no soul) and encouraged us to go out and

Haven could not have had a better speaker to send us off. I have had that quote running through my mind almost nonstop since he said it. He is so right – we all have influence, no matter how big or small – and we should use that influence to do good. And lots of it. We are thinking about how we at RCHOTX can make an impact and involve all of you as well – if you have any specific ideas on how we can do good on a grand scale, please please please leave it in the comments or if you would rather email me, do so at heather@rchotx.com.

Haven was a success. You get out of it what you put into it, plain and simple. I am already so excited for next year, and feel like I made so many new friends. I miss everyone so much and can’t wait to see you all next year! As Mandi would say, LOVE YOUR GUTS.

Texas Blogger Pre-Haven Meetup

That’s a mouthful, huh?

A pretty good-sized group of Texas DIY bloggers (that are all going to Haven, with the exception of one) decided to get together before Haven Conference and hang out. I organized it (with some help from Tarah) and it was this past weekend! That is one of the reasons you haven’t heard much from me lately – I’ve been busy with that!

We went to Austin, TX (the best place in the world) for a full day of eating, drinking, and thrift shopping. I was completely exhausted both nights we were there, but it was so worth it to make new friends! (Making friends as an adult is hard. It really is.)

It was a success! Some of us had been to Haven before, and I hope we eased the fears of the first-timers. Going to your first conference can be very, very scary and I said several times that I wish there had been a “get to know you” weekend before we went to Haven last year. I think it was helpful for everyone this weekend, whether it was first conference jitters being calmed or just the experience of meeting strangers (that I now call friends).

Tarah and I weren’t supposed to go until early, EARLY Saturday morning, but she texted me on Thursday and asked if I could get the hotel room for Friday night as well. Well, duh, don’t twist my arm – I was already off on Friday, but I had to wait for a delivery for the goodie bags (they were awesome) so we left town as soon as that was dropped off.

I used Priceline for our hotel room and could not have been more pleased! I told the other girls what I did, they did the same thing, and we all ended up getting a great deal at the same hotel! It worked out perfectly. The Renaissance Austin Hotel in the Arboretum was perfect. Everyone there was great, friendly, and went above and beyond for us. It was definitely the best experience I have ever had in a hotel, and the fact that we were there at a highly, highly discounted rate did not seem to matter to them. I hope I can stay there every time I visit Austin! (I may try and use Priceline for a hotel in Atlanta next month as well, and cross my fingers for a Renaissance!)

We bonded over barbecue, Mexican food (twice), margaritas (twice), and thrift store shopping – and we had a blast! Yes, it was extremely hot, and our drinks from Sonic were extremely flat, but we kept on going and got to know each other a little better. I can’t wait to see everyone again in one month!

ALSO – it was Jamie’s birthday! She joined us for lunch but had to leave after we ate so she could get ready for her birthday cookout. Happy birthday, Jamie!

Okay, on to the stuff you really want to know about – who was there and what was in those goodie bags?

Strangers that I now call friends:

Top row:

Lindsay from Makely School for Girls

Jamie from C.R.A.F.T. 

Me!

Jamie from Huckleberry Love

Middle row:

Cynthia (no blog YET!)

Tarah!

Sara from Major Hoff Takes A Wife

Tracey (no blog YET!)

Janis from All Things Beautiful

Front row:

Megan from Two Live Colorfully

Lydia from Huckleberry Love

Karla from Huckleberry Love

Two ladies joined us later – Amy and Jennifer (they came for dinner!)

Awesome companies that donated for the goodie bags and door prizes (I was amazed at how much we got!)

Doozie’s Corner (Cece Caldwell Paint and Miss Mustard Seed’s Milk Paint)

Hometalk

Maison Blanche Paint Company (accidentally got left at Tarah’s house… we’ll smuggle it to Haven!)

Minted

Paper Coterie

Pick Your Plum

Pinterest

Rustoleum 

Tito’s Vodka

Valspar

What I found was that most companies were very willing and happy to contribute! I was super impressed with the response I got from one simple email explaining what I was putting together.

It was so much fun to meet everyone, and Tarah and I are so glad we had the chance to do this with all of you!

 

Who knew St. Louis was so cool?

I was asked to travel to St. Louis for work – it was very last minute, which made me twitch a little. If you know me at all, you know I love love LOVE to plan out my travels far in advance (uh, I’m already working on our Haven vacation in August – don’t look at me like that), and I had little to zero time to plan for this!

My aunt lived in the St. Louis area twice, but they were both a long time ago (mid-80’s and then again in early 90’s) so I was basically starting from scratch. I vaguely remembered her taking me to a cute little town that had a Main Street so I figured out what that was (St. Charles) and planned my one “free” day around that.

I flew Southwest Airlines (my all-time favorite!) out of the newly remodeled Love Field Airport in Dallas. It was unrecognizable – in a good way! Nothing looked familiar at all, and I used to be very familiar with that airport (my husband and I dated long-distance for 4 years, so I was at Love Field a LOT), and was amazed at the transformation. I got in to St. Louis on a Sunday morning and hit the ground running. Well, driving. Who knew that Toyota Corollas got such great gas mileage? They do! I handled that airport like a pro (after dealing with D/FW Airport for my whole life, Lambert International was a piece of cake), turned on my Google Maps with my preloaded St. Louis map, and off I went.

(I’m not scared of driving in strange cities. Maybe I should be, but I’m not. My favorite thing to do is drive around and find new, cool stuff and neat neighborhoods, and this trip was no exception!)

I drove straight to St. Charles. I was in awe of that little city as soon as I drove into the Historic District. We just don’t have buildings that old in Texas! Main Street in St. Charles was like a postcard – cobblestone roads, little restaurants and boutiques, benches all along the street, and flowers everywhere. I loved it! The weather that day was perfect (well, perfect for ME, a hot-blooded Texas girl) – it was in the 50’s and drizzling. Everyone else had coats and scarves on, and there I was in my maxi skirt and lightweight shirt. It was the best outdoor shopping weather, in my opinion.

My first stop was a store called Red Posie – I found it online and knew I would love it. They sell my beloved Maison Blanche paint (we got to talk about Annie & Nicole!) AND Miss Mustard Seed’s Milk Paint. The owners were there and I really enjoyed talking to them about painting furniture, blogging, and Haven Conference. We exchanged business cards and (of course) I bought some Milk Paint from them. They had a beautiful armoire that they were selling for $129 (!!!!) that I have not been able to stop thinking about. I had absolutely no way to get it home, though, so I have to let it go. I hope someone else buys it and loves it 🙂 I do believe it was painted with Maison Blanche Collette, Tarah’s favorite. I will definitely be going to their store again if I ever get back to St. Louis (which I definitely hope happens!). Go like them on Facebook! They have lots of giveaways 🙂

After that, I headed towards Main Street!

I had lunch at Bradden’s – grilled cheese and sweet potato fries, because I eat like a child. I can’t help it if I love grilled cheese! I didn’t want anything too heavy because I had a full day of shopping and exploring planned.

 

 

Side note: I used to hate doing anything alone, but I really enjoyed going on this trip by myself. It’s nice to not have to make conversation with someone all the time, and I liked being able to shop and wander at my own pace without feeling rushed or bored. Five years ago? That never would have happened. I don’t know that I could do a whole week alone in a new city, but a few days = perfect!

After lunch, I shopped. I went into many, many stores and took lots and lots of pictures. Laurie at Red Posie told me I should go to Menard’s. She told me it was like a combination of Home Depot/Lowe’s and a grocery store. Of course I had to go check that out – put it in my trusty Google Maps and off I went!

I did not know that it was the grand opening of the Menard’s I went to – people were directing traffic, it was a madhouse, etc. I debated on whether or not it was worth going in, but decided to just do it – not like I had anything better to do! It was definitely an experience – I didn’t spend too much time in there because 1) I had limited room in my suitcase, and 2) it was really, really crowded! My random purchases at Menard’s were: bottled water, 5 silver hooks for a project, and trash bags. Yes, trash bags. They were a great deal!

After Menard’s, I decided to go drop off my bags at the hotel. Got my room, turned the air down to a chilly 65 degrees (yes, I’m a polar bear), and left again!

I stayed in Creve Couer (which translates to “broken heart”, so that’s kind of depressing) and took backroads to downtown St. Louis. I think highways are boring and I only take them if I’m in a hurry/going to and from work. I take after my dad, what can I say? Anyway, taking backroads to downtown took quite a while, but I was in no hurry. I found some beautiful neighborhoods, saw a really pretty college campus, and then I finally made it to downtown St. Louis. (Central West End, Cherokee Antique Row, Lafayette Square)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I saw Busch stadium (well, tried to – there was a lot of construction around it!) and then headed to the Gateway Arch. I’ve been up in the arch before, so I didn’t really feel like I needed to do it again – but I wasn’t against it. I parked and walked through the pretty park leading up to the Arch, and by the time I made it to the entrance, they were closing. Whomp whomp. That’s what I get for mozying all day long. I took lots of pictures and walked back to my car to do some more exploring. I drove all around Forest Park (home of the 1904 World’s Fair!) – beautiful. I also found out that St. Louis has a ton of things to do for free – the zoo, most museums, etc. Awesome! I found the Anheuser-Busch Brewery (also closed, of course) and some other cool neighborhoods before deciding to grab dinner and head back to the hotel. I mean, I *did* have to work the next day. Ha!

I took more backroads back to Creve Couer, and decided to stop at Noodles & Co. to pick up dinner. Yes, it’s a chain, but it’s not a chain we have here in Texas! It was okay. I probably wouldn’t go back – nothing special but it was fine.

The next day, I found out about a place called Upcycle Exchange – of course, I didn’t find out about it in time to go that morning before work! I should’ve googled “cool St. Louis craft stores” the night before! I decided that I would go the next day after work, but before going back to the airport. Instead, I went to Chesterfield Mall because they had an Archiver’s scrapbooking store. The nearest Archiver’s to me in Texas is in, oh, Austin – so I just decided to make the 15 minute drive before heading to work. Of course I bought more stuff I didn’t need…

Work work work, blah blah blah…

Picked up California Pizza Kitchen before leaving the mall (YUM). The girl working there was asking me all about Texas because she was going to San Antonio in a few weeks. Ha! I also figured out that I DO have a Texas accent, and people DO notice it. Also? I say y’all a LOT. I can’t help it. I gave several St. Louis residents a chuckle when I greeted them with my drawl.

I worked the next morning and early afternoon and headed to Upcycle Exchange right after  I left the store – I didn’t have much time to hunt for stuff, but the basic premise of the Upcycle Exchange is you pay what you want for the things you buy. They do have “suggested” amounts, and apparently not many people take advantage of their “pay what you want” policy, so that was nice to hear. People donate craft supplies to the Upcycle Exchange (companies as well, supposedly) and can put that credit towards other merchandise if they want. It’s basically a craft supply co-op, and I really, really wish we had something like that in D/FW! I’m sure it is a lot of work, but how awesome is that? I picked up a few things (again, short on luggage space), gave $15 (a very fair amount for what I got) and headed out to the airport.

I really loved St. Louis – it was pretty, the people were friendly, and it was super easy to get around. I’ve already volunteered to go back and work again! I’m sure there is much more to be discovered – and I’ll be back to find it 🙂

 

It’s good to be home (I think)

Hey, remember me? I’m just now starting to catch my breath after being gone for (basically) two weeks straight!

I went to a meeting in Kerrville, TX for my company (I LOVE the Kerrville area) – then, the day after that I headed to our Pinterest Party, and THEN I was asked to go to St. Louis to help out in another store for a few days. As you can imagine, I’m exhausted, but I did manage to have some fun, shop, eat good food, and maybe do a little work too while I was gone.

Of course we had to stop and eat/shop/play on our way from Fort Worth to Kerrville, so (of course) I took some pictures! Looking at these, I guess I was having a “let’s check out light fixtures” kind of day…

We ate at Tea-Licious in Burnet, Texas for lunch. It was (obviously) a tea room, and there was a little gift shop there too. My favorite part about Tea-Licious? The pickles. I would have gladly eaten three jars of them.

Our next stop was Fredericksburg (yes, we skipped Pie Happy Hour at Bluebonnet Cafe in Marble Falls – I know, it’s a sin).

We picked up our friends at the Peach Tree Tea Room (great food, great cookbooks, cute little gift shop! I always try to eat there when I go to Fredericksburg), and did a little Main Street shopping.

My favorite store (also fairly new, or new to me!) was Red. It is kind of at the end of Main Street and is unlike any other store I’ve seen in Fredericksburg. Very modern, very trendy, not country at all 🙂

They had a ton of other cool things too, but the employees were very… vigilant, and I wasn’t sure about taking pictures (that also explains the blurriness of some of these). See what I do for you guys? One thing that I wish I had gotten a picture of was a tufted bench that had been reupholstered – but each button was a different color or pattern. I LOVED it.

If you ever make your way down to Fredericksburg, be sure and stop at Red. It’s a fun little store 🙂

Stay tuned for the St. Louis part of my trip!

My favorite place in the world – Austin, Texas

Whenever I get to feeling uneasy about things (there’s a lot going on behind the scenes in my life right now!), I get restless. I want to run away. That’s normal for a 35 year old, right? Probably not. I’m just talking about running away for a few days – I’d miss the puppies too much to be gone much longer than that!

Any time my husband and I talk about going somewhere, we both automatically say, “Austin”. That’s our favorite place. Ever. Seriously. I’m pretty sure I was born to live there, but I haven’t made it that far yet. Someday I will, though. Mark my words!

Now, to be fair, when I say Austin, I mean Austin and the surrounding areas – not just Austin proper (although we love Austin proper too). Since I can’t drop everything and go right now, here are some of our favorite things about Austin.

Absolute best place we have ever stayed in the fifteen years we have been together – hands down, the Inn Above Onion Creek in Kyle, Texas. It’s about 15 minutes south of Austin, a ways off of I-35.

My dad gave us 2 nights here and 2 nights at Inn On Pearl Street (IN Austin, near the UT campus) for our honeymoon. Yeah, that was over 8 years ago and I’m still itching to go back! The cool thing about this place is that they serve breakfast AND dinner for the guests. I had the best meal of my life (thus far) here – I don’t know if that means I need to get out more or not, but it was excellent. I’m pretty sure my husband would agree!

I recommend it to everyone I know that is going to Austin. If that’s not enough, here’s a picture of the view from the back porch of our beautiful suite.

Our favorite place to visit is Mt. Bonnell. I know, I know, it’s a tourist trap, whatever. It’s beautiful and totally worth climbing the 100 stairs to get to the top. We go every time we manage to make it to Austin – it’s tradition with us.

That’s 2000 and 2004 right there, folks. I can’t find our more recent pictures from Mt. Bonnell, and honestly, they may not exist! Whoops. Mt. Bonnell is the highest point in Austin, and the views are amazing.

Our favorite thing to do is get lost. Yes, you read that correctly. We spend most of our time exploring Austin and the surrounding areas! Back in the day before GPS, we had a crappy atlas and that was it. When we saw something cool, we stopped and got out of the car. We still have our old atlas, even though it is completely obsolete at this point, with all of our writing in it about what we discovered. I should probably find that and put the Austin page in a frame!

The last time we went – it’s been a few years – if I am remembering correctly, we put about  700 miles on the rental car (not including driving there and back). When I say we explore, I mean WE EXPLORE. Neither one of us are scared of getting lost, thank heavens! We took a really exciting (well, exciting for us) drive last time and afterwards found out it is one of the more popular roads for motorcyclists and is all over the internets as such. Ha! Needless to say, we know our way around Austin pretty well.

Knowing where you are comes in handy. For example, on our quick little honeymoon, the transmission in our rental car went out. Yes. WENT OUT. I was driving, and we were on a 2 lane road on a hill. Luckily, I found a spot to pull over, and we called the rental car company, who then called a cab and a tow truck. An hour passed, and still no cab OR tow truck. Finally, the tow truck showed up, and the cab driver called us. How is it that *I* don’t live there, yet *I* had to tell him how to get to where we were?! Long story short, I begged the tow truck driver to take us to the nearest gas station and we waited for the cab there, because he still couldn’t find us. Now we drive by the spot where we were stranded and laugh. I wasn’t laughing on the day it happened, though! And that’s my honeymoon disaster story. {Takes a bow}

Okay, I’ll get to it. If we are in Austin, we will most likely be at one of these places:

Threadgill’s (preferably the Lamar location). The veggies are to die for. All of them.

Donn’s Texas BBQ (my great uncle used to own this, now his daughter does) I grew up on this barbecue, and I still have to stop every time and get a pint of potato salad. It is the best potato salad on the planet, and we can’t be friends if you don’t agree with me on that.

Kerbey Lane Cafe (preferably the Kerbey Lane location, but if we’re being honest it’s usually the north Austin location in a strip mall – BOO!) Gingerbread pancakes and awesome queso. Not together. Enough said.

Magnolia Cafe (South Congress location only!) Cheap, good food. Excellent people watching potential here. Cute gift shop next door too – it always gets me in trouble!

Amy’s Ice Cream (doesn’t matter which location – I’m equal opportunity Amy’s) We love going to Amy’s. They are just fun. One time we were at the Arboretum location, and an employee offered a free ice cream to anyone who jumped into the fountain. Yes, they gave out several free ice creams that cool evening (not to me!). You never know what you’re walking into at that place. My favorite? Sweet Cream and coconut.

Chuy’s (Barton Springs location) How could I NOT eat at my favorite Mexican food restaurant every time I go to Austin? It doesn’t matter that we have them up here in D/FW now. It’s just different in Austin. Besides, their Elvis is the coolest one.

You must think all we do is eat! Not true.

Waterloo Records – My Dad used to force me to go to Waterloo for hours on end growing up. I hated it then. I’ll be honest, I still don’t like hanging out there for too long, but luckily my husband doesn’t make me. Not to mention, I usually have the keys, so I could technically leave him there if I wanted to. He wouldn’t mind.

BookPeople – Only the coolest bookstore I’ve ever been in. I would hate to be a Barnes & Noble in Austin, is all I’m saying.

Central Market (38th Street/Lamar) – This is the original Central Market. That store is like a Heather magnet. I will go and just walk around for hours. This is my Waterloo.

Bob Bullock Texas State History Museum – this museum should be required for any visitor who passes through Austin (or Texas, for that matter!) It is SO much fun!

Wimberley, TX – cute little town not far from Austin (really close to the Inn Above Onion Creek, actually!). We usually spend a day there, shopping and eating and walking.

San Marcos, TX – my only advice is to SKIP the outlet malls. There is so much more in San Marcos! It’s a neat little area.

Gruene, TX – yet another small town. It is basically one main street, so it’s easy to do in a few hours.

There is so much that we have NOT explored in and around Austin. These are just some of the places that are “regulars” for us, and our visits just aren’t the same if we don’t go to all of them.

Have you been to Austin? What are some of your favorite places?