Things I love about Lick:

1. Great, fresh, local ingredients

2. Their small gives you TWO scoops. So even with a small, you get to try out two different flavors if you like. So many places, a small is only one scoop. (Their medium is three scoops, and large is four scoops).

3. They let you taste flavors before ordering, if you want. So that carrot and tarragon you weren’t sure if you would like? Just try a small sample. This of course, can backfire when the girls in front of you wind up tasting a bunch of things and then wind up being unadventurous and ordering chocolate and vanilla. (btw.. the Caramelized Carrots and Tarragon ice cream was DELICIOUS).

Lick is on South Lamar just north of Oltorf. Dangerous for me.. it’s so close!

I loooove dyeing easter eggs. Like REALLY love. It’s one of my favorite things to do all year. My mom is lovely enough to hard-boil a bunch of eggs beforehand, and then the Saturday night before Easter we have a dyeing fest! I mix all the colors together in bowls, and then we get crayons and draw on the eggs and then dye them. Sooo fun.

Here are some photos from the festivities this year:

My parents were in town this weekend and when deciding where to eat.. as usual, Hopdoddy got mentioned as a possibility and of course.. chosen as the winner. No surprise, as everyone in my family loves burgers and Hopdoddy’s are amazing.

Yum.

*all photos taken with my iPhone.

Here are a few iphone pics and  a couple of shots with my regular camera too:

I’m on Pinterest.

I try to pin things that I will enjoy later. That if I scroll back through of all the things I’ve pinned, I’ll still be inspired, will still enjoy looking at those things.

I was scrolling back through what I’ve pinned over the last couple of years, and I wanted to share with you a few of my favorites:

Cuddles, they are appreciated.

I really can totally see myself doing this. If I had a cat.

Tennis matches fun.

Summer, how I love thee.

Super-cute bear toast face!

Seriously, look at this cheese.

This, cause it’s totally my style.

Flowers, oh gorgeous flowers.

Vintage aerial shot. So beautiful.

Things that happened:

My brother tried to jump onto? over? a barbed wire fence unsuccessfully and scratched up his leg.

I hid Easter eggs for the kids at my parents’ house.

I had a coughing fit in church.

We dyed a bunch of Easter eggs (will share photos in an upcoming post!)

I tore one of my contacts and didn’t have a backup pair so I had to wear my broken, super-glued glasses all day Sunday.

We celebrated my mom’s upcoming birthday and had lots of cake and cookies.

Spent lots of time just enjoying being with my family.

There were happy hours, BBQs with friends, great conversations, cocktails, plant shopping, a bunch of photo editing from this week’s shoot, and I even spotted my favorite flowers at Central Market so I picked up a bouquet of them to put in a vase to enjoy.

Growing up, every time we would spend the night at my Grandma’s house, she would usually wind up making a bunch of these. We would eat them soo quickly. It was the perfect Sunday morning breakfast. And they are quick, easy, and pretty yummy.

Step 1: Find a roll of biscuits at the store that are non-buttered, flaky, etc. Just plain biscuits. This wound up being the hardest part actually. Apparently no one wants just plain biscuits any more? Crazy people.

Step 2: Take biscuits and put out on a cutting board. Find a syrup cap or other round object to punch holes with.

Step 3: Now you have donuts and holes! Heat up some canola or vegetable oil in a deep pot (you don’t want oil splattered everywhere). Place donuts in the oil and fry and flip until they are a nice golden brown. Let dry over paper towels.

Step 4: Sprinkle powdered sugar over them, dip in cinnamon and sugar, or even glaze the top with chocolate. I went simple and just sifted some powdered sugar over the top.

“Are you a local?”

After responding yes, this question usually followed:

“So how do you feel about SXSW?”

In Austin, there are the people who do everything they can to avoid SXSW and then the people that embrace it, go out, even may complain about the traffic and downtown being taken over, but still love it.

I love it. Every SXSW is a new experience. There are new venues, new people to run into, new bands to randomly see, new places to discover, and a new appreciation for living in this city. And a new feeling of exhaustion afterwards.

This year I met some amazing people visiting for interactive from Amsterdam and had a several-hour conversation with them over drinks. I randomly ran into a bunch of friends just out and about. I had a lovely time hanging out at two venues on East Cesar Chavez (the Spotify House and the Rachael Ray Greenhouse). I went into bars on dirty 6th I wouldn’t normally venture into. I walked home from east 6th street. I got to spend a lot of time hanging out with my friends Spring, Chris, and Kathy. I got to hear the Roots playing as I walked by Mohawk (see above).

I ate some delicious Peached Tortilla Banh Mi Tacos (see below).

And just had a spectacular few days enjoying the energy of the interactive and music conferences and the transformation of the city over those days.

So long, farewell SXSW. See you next spring.

This weekend was lovely. There was happy hour with friends, making roasted cherry tomatoes, working on projects, and the Zilker Kite Festival.