Random Sunday and a Big Bowl of Cheese

Our Sundays usually consist of a little exploration, sweat, and some good food (not necessarily in that order). We usually have a running "wish/to-do list" that we refer to when figuring out our day. For those of you who grew up/worked closely with Jake you know he is the king of lists and anything post-it related. Thankfully Jess is able to rely on him and his trusty post-its to plan something pretty awesome on Sundays.

Today consisted of, well, random things. Aren't those the best days anyways?

We started off the morning with a short hike up to Mt Bonnell, Austin's highest peak.With temperatures expected into the 100's this afternoon we wanted something semi-easy since we got a later start than we originally planned.

Although there weren't nearly as many, this reminded us of THE stars in Santa Monica back home

This is what we found up at the top- overview of Lake Austin


this lovely spot was only 10 minutes from downtown Austin. AMAZING.

think you can find one you like?

After our short hike we decided to drive around the neighborhoods in the area to check out the homes and see if this might be a new neighborhood on our radar. Jake spend his summering growing up going to Bass Lake with his family and has already dreamed of owning a home there as an adult. With many fond memories of good times on the lake we thought it perfect that we might actually be able to own a home of our own someday, yet be so close to the city. Before leaving the neighborhood we knew that this was one that would make our list.

While exploring the neighborhoods we stumbled upon Austin Art museum on Lake Austin and had fun walking around and enjoying the beautiful scenery.






We headed over to S. Congress for some much deserved sno cones (our new obsession!) before finally making it home to eat a big bowl of cheese.

You're not a true Texan if you've never had Queso. That's not a typo. Texans love their dip so much that it needs to be capitalized. It seems like it's served at almost every restaurant here in town, and when we first arrived we always ordered it whenever we went out to eat. Now that we've settled in a bit more, we rarely order is unless we have fam/friends visiting and are giving the "official" Austin tour. Yes, Queso makes the cut for the tour.

While at the market picking up a few other things we saw a display with everything needed for this delicious bite. We think with UT football season around the corner, folks are required to stock up on this stuff- Velveeta cheese and a can of chili diced tomatoes. Funny thing is we found the most organic/healthy tortilla chips to go along with our big bowl-o-cheese. Is this the Texas version is ordering diet coke with your Big Mac supersized meal at Mickey D's?


For those of you who want to try this artery clogging indulgence- cut the cheese into one inch squares and melt together in a saucepan. Pretty easy.



Oh ya. Forgot to mention you need some pretty classy drinks like Bud Ice and a game/Lifetime movie on TV too before you can enjoy this.

We don't mess with Queso.

Happy Sunday!

Saturday Night (Fever)

Our new friends, Lauren and Sam, invited us out on Saturday night to celebrate her big 3-OH! We headed out early to catch the happy hour at The Belmont before the birthday girl arrived. Yep you heard right folks, happy hour on a Saturday night. A bar/restaurant that offers happy hour on the weekend night gains major points in our books! Since we knew that it was going to be a decent size party we met April at the swanky, 'rat pack'-esque bar a few before catching up with the lucky lady up on the roof deck.

Nothing beats a warm summer night out with some great people....

Happy 30th chick!

Oh how we heart this girl!

We're so grateful for the great people we have begun to connect and have relationships with in our new home-state. It doesn't quite replace the people we left back in Cali. Who are we kidding, you guys could NEVER be replaced!...Anyone looking to get out of CA is more than welcome to give this place a try any weekend in the near future, just let us know when. We are really enjoying getting out of our comfort zones, trying new things, and living up to the promises we made to ourselves before we moved. BUT having good friends around you makes all of these new adventures just that much more special and fun.

Tomorrow we hike, and Jess starts her first day of "new to district" training on Monday. Happy weekend ya'll!

Get Your ASana Outside

Two of the top reasons we chose to move to Austin was because of the fit community and multiple opportunities to sweat and HAVE FUN. Thankfully to Jess's involvement with lululemon this summer she's really taken advantage of all things sweat related, this Saturday included.

In case you didn't already know via Facebook, lululemons across the nation all participated in an event called Salutation Nation. It's an event that brings the yoga community together outside enjoying the benefits of yoga- body, mind, and spirit. In other words, it's a great excuse to wake up early and practice some yoga with some amazing people. Although Texas summer days are heating up pretty early these days, we thought it would be a great opportunity to spend some time together.

Where are the Vances? (hint: yellow shirt and red hair/all black)

Inspired yet?

We invited some of our new friends (Sam and Lauren) and met them at Festival Beach to get our yoga and snack on yummy treats after. We love this couple and always have an awesome time hanging out and experiencing everything Austin together! Tonight we are going our for Lauren's 30th too!--pictures and post to come.

Jess met her first and BESTEST friend (do I sound like I'm in elementary school again? that's what it feels like when you move away from everything familiar) in Austin while working at lululemon. Her name is April. She is an amazing person always up for a good time, a glass of wine, and a yoga class or two.

So glad we made it out to this event today to "sweat once a day". We have an early hike planned tomorrow and a few more adventures up our sleeves before the end of the weekend. Stay tuned.

PS Jess finished her classroom and will be posted "after" pictures soon. We know you have all been anxiously awaiting!

Date Night

Jake loves movies. Like REALLY LOVES movies. Perhaps it's the whole experience of heading out to the cinema, picking out perfect seats in the theater, and grabbing a big-tub-o-popcorn? Whatever it is we have barely gone out to to the movies since moving. We've been on a budget, had a large herd of family and friends visit over the summer, and have been trying to get out into the city meeting new people and getting acquainted with Austin. Jess likes the movies but doesn't really like to go unless it's something that she really wants to see (i.e. she's a stickler for the budget and gets annoyed at spending up to 10 bucks a ticket plus all of the extras). Inception has gotten rave reviews we both decided that it was time to hit up the Alamo Draft House.



Now the Draft House isn't a regular ol' theater. They have theme coordinated food and movie nights and serve you drinks at your seat. Whenever we meet someone new here in town one of the first things they tell us we have to do is go experience (yes I said experience) the Draft House. So with a good movie in mind, we made it a fact to take in the experience.




We got there later than we should have (people get there at least 45 minutes before the show to get a prime spot) and ended up sitting towards the front. Buuuuutttt once we ordered an appetizer (jake's fav: spinach artichoke dip!) and a few beers we were very pleased with our first Draft House visit.

By the looks of his face can't you tell that we will be back again?!

Easy (Like a Sunday Morning)

Sunday is our day. The day that we blackout in our calendars for some "us" time. Lately with the many visitors (that we LOVE) and balancing our new work schedules our Sundays have seemed to fall on the wayside. This weekend we had a lull in the craziness that we call our lives and took advantage of the beautiful weather that Austin was having this weekend.

Although Jess is usually the organizer in the relationship, Jake is great at planning. Of coarse he had a list of to-dos in hand before we left the house that morning.

The day started off late in the morning and was quickly followed by a few donuts....yummmm

Our cooler was packed (and so were our bellies) so we headed over to Lake Austin (about 30 minutes from our house) to enjoy a lazy Sunday with our son.

We read. We enjoyed the sun. We played Banagrams.
By our rules.




Guess who won?


After a leisurely drive in one of our favorite neighborhoods for some (window shopping) house hunting, we ended the day with some fries and chocolate shakes from P. Terry's- Austin's version of In N' Out.

yummmm. If you're counting that two tasty treats in one day. Hey, it was Sunday. Nothing counts on a Sunday right?

Sweet ending to a great day.

Memorial Weekend: Day One

We've officially had our first visitor since Carol left this past weekend. and boy was it jam packed with some good ol' Austin fun. And because a few of you have been asking, "details details" (shout out Tal) here is the play by play. More specifically those of you who want to start planning your itinerary (this one's for you Amy!) this might be the place to start before you make your list. Our weekend is going to be posted in parts so stayed tuned and be patient. We can feel your anticipation already. haha.

Friday: Jeremy arrived after a 6 hour flight and 2 layovers. They went out for a drink at this chill spot before taking a quick drive around town. This place is always packed and we've been itching to find a reason to go and check it out (remember we're on a budget).


Saturday: Unfortunately (for fortunately?) Jake had some clients to take care of so Jess and Perm went on at hike at one of our favorite spots: Barton Creek Greenbelt. We've posted on this special place before and knew that once any family and friends started to visit this would be on the list for sure.

Next up was a "tour" of a local brewery, Live Oak. Neither of us had been here before but thought this might be a great way to taste some local beer for free. Yes, free. Who doesn't LOVE free? All we had to do was pretend like we were interested in the brewing process. But you know we ducked out after we tasted a few (or 3 or 4?) brews.

aww brother-sister love

After the brewery (yum yum btw) we knew we wanted to get some good Tex-Mex grub. For those of you who don't know much about Tex-Mex, it is one of the food cuisines that define Texas. More simply stated it's food that was available to the area when the area was first settled. You'll find yellow American cheese for the infamous queso, tacos, etc. Nothing fancy basically. Definitely not for those who are watching their calories. Ohh but so good (minus the meat for Jess) . Chuy's is a popular destination but the wit for long and we were HUNGRY. So, we happily headed to to this really good backyard looking place called, Shady Grove. This was a great place to spend the afternoon having a few more drinks, Frito pie (Jeremy couldn't resist), while trying to stay cool amongst the Texas sun.

Don't you just want an iced cold something?

There's an action shot for ya. I heart tortilla chips and salsa.

Frito Pie. Yup, that's the bag. Always classy.
See the Queso in the right back corner? Oh ya.

Lunch was followed by a swim and nappity-nap by the pool before we headed inside for some fajitas and the Laker game (Thank god they won. There might have been a problem if not). We ended the night night down in the Warehouse District and 6th Street. We learned how to play shuffle board (thanks Jerm. play it. it's fun.), had a few more beers, and headed home exhausted but fully satisfied after a long day packed full of everything Austin.

Day two was even better.

Dogs and then Some

After a night on Lady Bird Lake last we were inspired to (finally) head over to the hike/bike trail area to see what all of the hype was about. Let's just say that this place did not disappoint!



We spent the late morning doing a some errands and grabbing a quick lunch before heading over there. Although we (Jess mostly!) were a little apprehensive to bring Stew we knew that it was totally not fair to lock him up in the house all day with the GREAT weather we were having today. With our bag packed with toys, water, and all of other other essentials (is this what it's like to have kids to ready to go out for the day??!!) needed to make sure that we have control over our son, we drove down towards the lake.

The Austin skyline behind Lady Bird Lake

Not too soon after parking were we greeted with runners, bikes, and dogs running everywhere ---OFF LEASH! Not sure of how Stewart would respond, this was Jess's worst nightmare. Since it was our first time here we decided that we would give it 10 minutes to see how he responded. As we kept walking closer towards the water and the off leash dog park area Stew started to calm down and become submissive to the other dogs. We tried to get him to play fetch with the sticks and tennis balls that we brought, but he didn't seem too interested. We even got Stewart to get his cute little paws wet! For those of you who know him, this was a big day in our books. Below is a collage from our playdate at the lake...

Happy Sunday from our family.....

to yours!!!