A weekend away: Austin edition

Drew and I have had this trip to Austin planned for a month. I've been soooo looking forward to it, and I'm actually pretty sad that it has come and gone. Something about planning a vacation, even just a long weekend trip, gives you something to hold on to when you have long days or hard days or even just neutral days.

I'm a planner, especially when it comes to trips. So trust me, you want to vacation with me! I do all the research, reading, booking, reserving and even mapping. So basically you just show up and expect to have a fun time. For our trip to Napa Valley a few months back, I even typed up a full on itinerary with addresses, reservation numbers and approximate drive times.

If we're paying the money to do something great, I'm going to make sure we hit all the right spots. That's for sure.

So on my tough/stressful/harder days for the past month, I've been coming home from work, cooking dinner, putting the baby down and then retreating to our bedroom and burying myself in Trip Advisor reviews for this weekend trip. Something about vacation research is relaxing to me. In fact, whenever we don't have a trip on the books, I actually get kind of antsy and just research places we might want to go someday.

Currently our (my?) wish list:
Nashville | Can't believe I've never been and neither has Drew.
Seattle | In the springtime when all those gorgeous wildflowers are in bloom PLEASE.
Charleston | YES.
Road trip to the mountains | Any mountains will do, but I've got my eye on New Mexico
Italy & Greece | Our "someday" trips. After we have our babies and save up our pennies. Maybe 30th birthdays.
Oregon Wine Country | I hear Oregon is gorgeous and I do love a good Pinot.

But this weekend was beautiful Austin, Texas.
From the moment we got there Friday around noon it was definitely HOT, but this is Texas in May and that's life.

We drank a LOT of champagne (for me) / whiskey (for Drew) and ate an insane amount of delicious food, so I feel like I should share.

Launderette for brunch 

SO good. Best pancakes ever. Great cappuccino. SO accommodating (We were a full hour and change early for our reservation on a busy Saturday and they sat us immediately.)

We were starving so we got a few pastries as "starters."

OMG SO GOOD. Drew got this peach popover and I got the zucchini bread.

Moonshine for dinner

So good, so friendly. Busy spot downtown and they don't accept reservations, but we got there early (5:30 or so) and were seated in 15 minutes. Dinner was SOOOOO GOOOOD. They start you off with this popcorn and I LOVE the changeup from a bread basket or chips and salsa. So different!

 This champagne was so good. 

 I got the special which was tomato pie. Drew got trout or some fish that looked decently good, but I don't love fish so I'm not an excellent judge. Drew LOVED it. 

Bazille (upstairs at Nordstrom) for mid-day drinks

Whenever we're baby-less at the Domain, we always stop into this bar upstairs at Nordstrom. It's so cute, always quiet, and has a great view for people watching.

This is Drew calling the hotel to make sure they put us in a street-facing room—per my request. He was not happy about making this call. 

Culinary Dropout for dinner

Great, but I took no pictures because they sat us outside at 5pm so it was HOT and I was too warm to take photos or even fully enjoy the meal, honestly.

Second Bar + Kitchen was the restaurant at our hotel. We stopped in for a drink on their patio Saturday night and then in the actual restaurant for breakfast Sunday. It was GREAT. We'd go back again!

 This picture is literally me whining about the fact that when I die in 50 years, Arden will have 75,000 pictures of Drew and zero of me because I'm always the one taking our photos. Irony.

We live our lives on a budget—which is why Drew semi-hates vacations or trips of any kind. They don't fit within his ideal spending guardrails, and are therefore "A waste." This creates an interesting dynamic when paired with me—the one who spends my free time reading the reviews of resorts in Hawaii or chateaus in the south of France that I never intend on actually visiting.

Because of this point of marital discord, we make a lot of compromises on vacations. Example: I wanted to stay at the Archer at the Domain, and Drew wanted to avoid spending $275 on a hotel room at all costs. So, what did we do? We met in the middle. Friday night, we stayed at some Holiday Inn Express at the Arboretum. Saturday night, we stayed at the Archer. WHICH WAS AMAZING, by the way.

Our room was clean and well-appointed. We didn't spring for a fancy suite or anything excessive. Just a street-facing room with a big, comfy bed and a great view of Starbucks—dream come true.

 I forced Drew to put on the hotel slippers for this photo, I'll admit it.

 Drew was not at all entertained by me slowing us down on our way out the door for dinner for a mirror selfie.

 Quite possibly the fakest Drew smile of all time. Fine, I'll take what I can get. 

Archer has great details at every turn. The fun slippers, cute complimentary desserts with nighttime turndown service, excellent hotel bar and restaurant, cutest "rooftop" pool, walk-in showers with rain shower heads, and a lot more I'll not bore you with. If you're looking to stay at the Domain, try Archer.

We also went to see the Bobby Bones Red Hoodie Comedy Tour Friday night at the Paramount. This was a bit of a bust because the crowd was so rowdy that they wouldn't stop heckling him. It was all positive heckling like, "We love you Bobby!" and chanting his name and cheering at EVERYTHING. But even he admitted right there on stage that if the audience didn't quiet down, he wouldn't be able to get into a groove. And he didn't. It was the craziest crowd I've ever seen. He was great about it, but we did have to leave about 20 minutes early. It was already 2.5 hours in and it was just too much. I'm so glad we went! But next time I think I'd try to see him like in Dallas or somewhere where he's a bit "less" well-known. Yikes.

Saturday morning I got up early and went for a little belated Mother's Day treat...a massage! It was at Viva Day Spa at the Domain. Beautiful little spa! I had Heather, and other than shortchanging me about 8 minutes (I know, picky, but massages are expensive—so I'm allowed to say that one tiny thing) she was GREAT. I did a 60 minute deep tissue treatment because working at a desk combined with half marathon training really had me messed up. She worked out a lot of my problem areas (shoulders/neck/middle back) and I was so grateful for that quiet hour to myself. Sometimes that's all ya need to feel recharged!

Saturday we went to all the great places we can't go to in Waco. Madewell, Levis, Peter Millar, Nordstrom Rack, J.Crew, etcetera. We were both desperately in need of new clothes for spring. I hadn't really "shopped" (aside from a few trips for specific items or just being in the right venue at the right time) since before I was pregnant, and none of my clothes currently fit right. Drew had also been wearing the same 5 shirts for over a year. Sweet Drew would've worn them for another year if I hadn't made him branch out a little. :)

Saturday night I did something kind of extra, as the kids would say, and booked tickets to see Deadpool 2 at the fancy iPic theater at the Domain. You know, the one with those reclining chairs?! It was a dumb splurge for $24 a pop, but HELLO—it was a fun time and that's all that matters. Plus—free popcorn?!

Sunday we went to breakfast at the hotel, checked out, ran a few little errands and then headed to Georgetown to pick up Arden from Drew's parents' house. We had to run home for Lolli's 47th birthday party tonight!

My mom's birthday (May 21st) also marks two years since we found out we were pregnant! Read more about that adventure linked here. 

Drew starts his new job tomorrow. He's a little anxious, I can tell, but he's gonna kill it. I can't believe he's literally going to work 10 feet from my office door. It's going to be a new adventure, that's for sure. If you have any tips for working with your spouse, let me know. :)

I should probably head to bed. It's midnight, which is roughly two hours past my bedtime. Have a great week and a safe Memorial Day weekend next weekend. We don't have many plans yet, and that's how I like it. 

Chat soon.