Weekend in Austin

Mr. Snoop and I had a marvelous weekend.  Thursday afternoon, we left for Austin to spend the weekend celebrating my grandma's 80th birthday.  There was much consumption of Tex-Mex, beer, wine, and shopping.  After landing in Austin, we high-tailed it to Fonda San Miguel for mango margaritas and appetizers.  My mom and I really liked the cowhide chairs they had in their entry way:

She liked it so much that she gave the royal wave.

On Friday, I made a pigrimage to my very favorite place: Last Call.  Last Call is the Neiman Marcus outlet, where they sell all the stuff they didn't sell in their regular stores.  It is paradise.  I got 2 dresses and a pair of shoes, and Mr. Snoop got dress shoes for his rotations.  After that, we stopped by Russel Korman to get my rings cleaned, and InStep to get Mr. Snoop some crocs for surgery.  I made fun of all the ugly shoes in that store, which I don't think the salespeople appreciated.  But they just didn't compare to my new, bright red Delman flats.

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Versus...

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Right?

Then, Mr. Snoop, my red flats, and I went to Central Market for lunch and to get groceries for the weekend.  We marveled at how inexpensive groceries are compared to New York (and Central Market is not cheap, y'all).  Then we found this, and the heavens opened and choirs of angels sang.  At least for Mr. Snoop.  Then we ate lunch with all the grackles on CM's patio.  It was glorious.

Yep, that is a wall of Shiner. Every type imaginable.

Friday night, the extended family started to come in, and we all went to Matt's el Rancho and to the Broken Spoke, which is an awesome dance hall.  Mr. Snoop "officially" learned how to two-step, which is a skill required of any Texan.

Saturday, my mom and went shopping at another of my favorite places in Austin: Tuesday Morning.  I know that there are Tuesday Mornings all over the country, but the one in Austin is amazing.  We found some good stuff and then went home to watch football and admire my cousin's wife's baby bump with the whole family.  My aunt and uncle stayed with us and brought their dog, Gracie, who is the absolutely sweetest thing in the whole world.

 

Saturday night was the party for the lady of the weekend!

Nearly 50 people attended my grandma's birthday party.  Family flew in from Colorado, Florida, and New York (that'd be us :).  We just had the best time.  I horrified my cousins with my rendition of a New York accent, and Mr. Snoop nearly wet his pants from a youtube video they showed him.  There was a great slideshow of pictures of my grandma, and my brother even made it from Ecuador via skype:

My grandpa talking to Chris.  We all passed him around :)

It was such a great weekend!  So nice to be home for a few days to spend time with the family and enjoy the nice weather.  Of course we got back here and it is now in the 50s.  A far cry from in the 80s and sunny.  I'll have to talk about the experience of flying American there and JetBlue back, but thats's for another post. 

I hope everyone had a lovely weekend as well!