This is Texas

Prettttty sure I got free jalapenos on my chupacabra goat burger at the jackalope, a sucker for stringing together nonsense as always.

Very Austin

Especially avoid messing with their Gulf of Mexico.

Tex-Mex

Mexican food restaurant! Makes everybody happy, hubcap-ceiling or no. Especially with the unlimited free fancy salsa.

At least one creature stirring

When Simon woke up on boxing day, he found that someone else had been stealing his candy. The hard way.

Oh!

... And we watched a new episode of Doctor Who! ON TELEVISION!! The day it came out! As if that were a possible thing!

Happy Christmas

I was too slow to get Ziv's reaction, but I don't think hers was the one I needed.

Oh! And I finally got one of Simon's prints! AS A TAPESTRY!

And too much other sweet stuff to mention. Magic!

The grumps

Here I demonstrate the opposite of how it feels to wear a feather boa in a craft store.

I keep getting older.... they stay the Saaaame aaaaaaaaaage

PARTY AT THE MOON TOWER! IRL!

The new normal

This is pretty much how it goes at Christmas with an adorable 10-month old - a room full of people watching the baby intently.

Living the Dream

Here I am about to swing on a trapeze hung upside-down by my knees BECAUSE OBVIOUSLY.

Yeah Yeah, I'm supposed to blog

What's a blogging again? Here is a rental house in Austin big enough for many Diltses.

Austin: World of Fantasy

Austin Texas! I went to Joanna and Toshia's apartment, a 3-minute walk away from this:

Inside they had Japanese Batman t-shirts, santa-hatted Hulk, and the stop-motion Ben Franklin special that they don't show in Canada for some reason:
We went out for Tex Mex right quick, as one should in Texas. I'm surprised it took me this long to take my first picture of this little darling:
We couldn't finish our meals, which is also pretty America. But Freebirds' takeout boxes reminded me that I was in a safe and supportive city:
It wasn't enough Tex-Mex, of course, so we went to Baby A's for dinner and Everclear purple margaritas. I agree with Rockin' Spanish Santa:

Last Day in Austin

After a recommendation like this, I couldn't not go to Cabela's. We were not disappointed:

And the gun guy nervously let me pose with a gun so big it doesn't fit in frame:

But it isn't all big useless .50 caliber single-shot rifles that take a mile of rangeland to shoot - there are guns for kids, too!

After the gun show, we headed to Sonya's for sinfully tasty cake and ice cream, and for some necessary introductions:

Then we finally played the Saved By The Bell game, which was slightly boring but with much potential for improvement:
So, for the last day in Austin I got to do fun things with people I already miss. Appropriate.

How The Drafthouse Works

The Drafthouse is my own personal paradise. You get there 45 minutes before show time, get a seat, and watch scandalous old trailers:
Then you pick what beers and gourmet pizzas you want during the show, and write them on a little card for your server:
Then somebody comes out to tell you how awesome and/or terrible the film will be. In the case of BLACK COBRA, a 70's bisexual softcore snake sexploitation film starring Jack Palance, you get a nerd:
And for All About Eve, you get a drag queen, playing both herself and Bette Davis in a filmed 'interview'.

The Dirty Six

6th street isn't bad, but walking on 6th street at night is a cacophonous, seizure inducing nightmare. I loved hating it, and when you get inside the bars it gets way better. You have to choose carefully, though. This one looked like it was speaking my language:
But looking closer, I found that it was not:

H.E.B.

Michelle wanted me to go to H.E.B. - not for anything specific, just to go. It could be because she wanted me to see the Latino Soda aisle:

... which is the kind of thing this blog would make fun of if they weren't in so many magical, effing delicious flavours:

The big guns

Sonya's job is wicked cool - she's a diesel mechanic for Freightliner. I got to visit her today, and she showed me the purple bookshelf in her bay:

... and then the inside of a fire truck:

A school bus:

and an engine:

Santa Rita's

Nobody could wait for me to get Mexican food here, least of all me, so we went to Santa Rita's for deeeeeelicious spinach & mushroom enchiladas with suiza sauce and Margaritas. Then we went home to bully Jo into a cigar and a tycoon handshake:

Jackie O!

Exciting news! I made the Fa(t)shion February blog! And the Fa(t)shion February blog made

it to Sociological Images! The SI post is interesting, the pictures are lovely, and the comments section is predictably awful.

Back to tonight: Jackie O lives in Austin now, where she has a charmed life and a taxing job. She took me and her friendly dog LiLi to see her favourite empty lot:

and buy me a Lone Star at Cheer Up Charlie's:

Then we went to the first ever Whole Foods in the world to get dinner and to show me KRYPTONITE:

They Never Told Me It Was Beautiful

The Cathedral of Junk is a must-see if you're in Austin. Beautiful, rickety, and certified-safe, here's Joanna climbing from the second story to the third story.

Here's Vince Hannemann, the man who created the Cathedral in his backyard, with aaall the Caravitas:

And here's the saga: