I’d Take Mean Skies Over No Sky

Dear United Airlines,

I wanted to let you know that there is a serious flaw in your current tag line. Unless Wikipedia is failing me it is currently “Fly the Friendly Skies.” The thing about that tag line is that is assumes that you actually get up in the air.

I used to be the type of person who scoffed when someone said they had a preferred airline. Must be nice to be so wealthy so as to be able to afford being picky about flights.  What a luxury!

But, you know what? I think I’m getting close to understanding those people. I cannot say I have a favorite airline. But I’m narrowing the field. Because, United, I’ve ruled you out. In the past 9 months you have delayed a flight I was on so long that I very nearly missed one of my oldest friends weddings. When my mother died and my best friend was rushing to my side you diverted and delayed her so long it took her well over 24hrs to get to me. And then,  this very evening due to your inability to appropriately schedule a flight crew you have made it so that instead of seeing my Dad promptly at 10:29am tomorrow after many moons apart, I will see him at 10:05pm…maybe, who knows, knowing you.

I know what you’re thinking. Boo hoo, what’s 12 hours? Well 12 hours is actually a really long time when you’re a girl on the brink of her 25th birthday sans mother, in a city where you can easily count your friends on your hands and your close friends on just one.

So I just think you should consider a different tagline. Because in all honestly I’d rather mean skies over no sky. And I’m really not convinced you’re all that friendly. The thing about a friend is that you can let them know when they’re being a dick because you’ve got an open line of communication. Your customer service section is a fucking maze and you practically ask for my finger print to leave feedback. Those shenanigans are not those of a friend, on the ground or in the air.

I am sure operating an airline is quite complex. I mean, seriously the fact that a giant hunk of metal can carry a bunch of humans through the sky is impressive, gets me every time. But, maybe go with that as a tagline: Fly, it’s kind like magic and you should be happy with that because chances are the rest of it we’ll fuck up. That’s kind of a long tagline, I’m a media person not a copy writer so you’ll probably want to get someone on that but I mean it’s a start.

Sincerely,

I Just Ruined My Chances of Ever Working For Whatever Agency Currently Has You (WPP?) But It’s Ok Because You Seriously Need To Re-evaluate Your Operations, Customer Relations & Brand Touch Points Anyway

Knowing When It’s Right

No, this is not a post about finding a Valentine. I have absolutely no idea how to do that right. This is actually a really belated post about my trip to San Francisco.

Like Austin, SF was also on the list of cities I considered calling home post-college before I landed my first job and was able to stay in Boston for a while longer. (Other cities on that list are Seattle, Atlanta, and NYC, though I remove NYC pretty much every other day) So in early December when I saw JetBlue was having a sale that could get me there for under $250 I couldn’t help myself.

It also happened that my BFF’s b-day was one of the sale weekends, so it was pretty much a sign from the universe I needed to be there. If I had any doubts about whether or not I should have taken this trip they were erased once I boarded my flight and realized I got a whole row to myself and could therefore lay down and sleep the whole way. What a beautiful way to spend money that I should have been using to pay off debt. (oops, #sorryimnotsorry).

Until this trip the farthest west I’d ever been was Austin, but I always thought I’d like SF. Here are some reasons why:

1. I crush public transit, driving makes me nervous
2. I love the LGBT community and find my closest/best/most inspiring/most fun friends are often part of it
3. Wine
4. Water, sometimes knowing I can’t get to the ocean in 45 min makes me claustrophobic

I was completely right about all the reasons above. All of those things contributed to an amazing weekend there. Here’s some photo evidence of a time well had:

I really loved Philz Coffee. That was a last day discovery and the moment I took my first sip I knew I’d made a huge mistake missing out on drinking it exclusively for the previous 48 hours. I’m not exaggerating. Other than my friends it’s the #1 thing I miss about that place now that I’m back.

San Francisco is a beautiful city and I loved my time there. However, the best part of the trip was the confirmation it gave me that I’ve landed in the right place. I missed Austin while I was out there. Not in a “I miss my bed and my stuff way” but in a “I miss breakfast tacos, and being warm and dry, and juice, and yoga, and brisket” way.

I’m a city girl through and through; I thrive in cities and wilt in suburbs. However, San Francisco is a huge city. Which isn’t bad. But right now I’m really happy in my small city. Am I taking SF off the list? Absolutely not. It still has a spot. I just know now that I’m in the right place on the list for the person that I am in this moment and that’s a really awesome feeling. It’s also a significantly better souvenir than the 80 count Ghirardelli bag of chocolates I may or may not have considered bringing home with me.

Another year…Another Spotty Commitment to Blogging

Happy 2014. Another year…another spotty commitment to blogging.

Typically I get overly apologetic about my long hiatuses between posts. But this go around I’m going to give myself a free pass. If you’re reading this, chances are you are a family member or a friend and you know full well why I’ve been MIA. If you happen to be a reader coming from across the interwebs to enjoy my ramblings (first thank you!), I won’t tap dance around it. My absence has been a direct result of losing my mother to stomach cancer in November.

Before you race to the comments section to tell me how sorry you are, don’t worry about it. I know you’re sorry. Who wouldn’t be sorry? You’d have to be Satan incarnate to not feel bad for a girl who lost her Mom. I’ve drafted a lot of posts about losing her, and I fully intend to actually follow through and post about it at some point. The sub-title of this blog promises wit, but let’s be real, it’s really just a collection of stories that could more easily be called “The World According to Amanda, In Case You Might Care.”

So yeah, there might be some semi-downer posts coming out in 2014. Potential titles include: Fuck You Cancer…No Really, Fuck You; 10 Things Not to Say to Someone Who’s Mom Died; Dear Hallmark, Fuck You Too, Sympathy Cards Are Dumb; Why You Should Definitely Drive Half Way Across the Country With Your Dad; Some Awesome Things My Mom Taught Me That I’m Willing To Share With You. All working titles and subject to change, obviously.

One thing I am willing to write about is one of the many reasons my Mom was quite possibly the most selfless and freakin’ genius mom ever. So I moved to Austin a little over 4 months ago knowing full well that my Mom’s time was limited. The prognosis was never great, but my mom was a fighter and you kinda just enter this alternate reality of wishful thinking with these things. So when I got offered the interview for my current job I called my mom hysterical crying. I was jumping ahead in my mind to getting offered the job (cocky I know, but hey, I did get it so….just sayin’) and I was terrified of leaving the east coast and her feeling like I was abandoning her while she was facing this terrible thing.

First, she calmed me down by pointing out that I didn’t have a job offer so I needed to slow my roll. Then she said she’d never tell me I couldn’t go. I responded that she could totally tell me I couldn’t go. She was the one with the Big C and she got to make the rules and if she told me I needed to stay in Boston, I would suck it up and stay. Period.

When I actually got offered the job, and visited Austin, and started to feel like this was just the change I needed I called her again. She told me I needed to do this, not despite the fact she was sick, but because she was. She said I needed to take the job because I needed to have a life that was my own.

At the time I didn’t understand that. I told myself I’d be budgeting it in to fly home every other month to see her, so that I was home just as frequently as I had been when I lived in driving distance. It didn’t occur to me that she’d get so sick so fast. And I certainly didn’t anticipate starting 2014 already half an orphan. But now that that is my reality I understand what my Mom did for me in helping me make this huge move.

As I walked from my downtown one-bedroom apartment to the farmer’s market I’ve posted about in the past, green juice in hand, about to see all the dogs and the children and buy local farm fresh produce to begin the post-holiday detox I realized exactly what she has given me. She has given me a place that is all mine; that is proof that I’m going to be ok without her. It’s proof I’m going to be ok because I’ve already laid the foundation for this happy chapter in my life and I did it all on my own. I couldn’t have had a happier Saturday morning yesterday and when I swapped out my finished juice for a cup of coffee it honestly felt like she was smiling and saying “I told you. I told you’d be fine, look how fine you are.” You were right Mom. Totally right.

I’m a Grown Up, I Have Throw Pillows

It’s not that I don’t think of myself as an adult. But for some reason adult and grown up are different to me.

I’ve been mostly financially independent for quite a while. I’ve lived in cities for the past 6 years. And I’ve lived completely on my own here in Austin since I arrived 2 months ago.

But today I really felt like a grown up. Because today. I rented a Zipcar. Drove my butt 30 min north to the closest IKEA. And a bought a couch y’all.

This beauty is all mine.

And it pulls out to be a bed so that people can start visiting me already!

And to think it started out as this

I’ve always loved being independent. But for some reason this whole couch thing symbolized a lot more. I’m really on my own. I really live in Texas. I’m really a grown-up. I mean I’ve got throw pillows and everything!

Amanda, noun

According to the interwebs Oscar Wilde once said “I think it is very healthy to spend time alone. You need to know how to be alone and not be defined by another person.”

I’ve always thought about this quote in reference to that one friend you have who just can’t seem to exist in the world without a boyfriend. She gets out of one relationship, spends one night on the town taking shots and telling you how excited she is to be single with you, and by morning she’s on to the next one. I think everybody has one of those friends. I always kind a thought Oscar was talking to them with this quote.

He couldn’t have been talking to me (and for the record I am aware he’s dead and not actually talking to anyone presently, but that’s not the point). I’m an only child for goodness-sake. I am good at being alone. I’ve had lots of experience. This is Amanda, party of one, and it’s been raging for 24 years so I’ve got this down…

….right?

Friday night as I was lying on the floor of my new one-bedroom apartment I came to the realization that I was wrong. I might have been good at being alone as a child, but it’s been a long while since I’ve consistently hung out with just me.

With the exception of my first summer home from college I’ve lived with at least one roommate and as many as five, often including a best friend, for the last 6 years. More than once in my life, have I hung out with one person so much that we’ve received a “TomKat”-esque nickname. When I really think hard about it, with the exception of going to museums, there are almost no activities that I actively pursue solo, and even more that I solidly refuse to embark on alone.

I had a boss in college that pointed out to me that I draw energy from being around other people. The moment she mentioned it I knew it was true. But I’m only realizing now just how good I had gotten at keeping that energy pool full and never being alone.

When I decided to move to Austin, I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do about my living situation. I wasn’t sold on living by myself. I notice when people ask me how I like living alone that they appear to expect a more emphatically positive response. The truth is it’s fine. But so was having roommates as far as I’m concerned. (Though knowing all the food in the fridge is mine and I can eat it, toss it, save it as I see fit is kind of life changing.)

This new realization about how I’ve been defining myself with whole groups of people is what is making living alone exciting. Don’t get me wrong. I’m making new friends, and I’m excited to start settling into new social circles. But I’m glad that I’m coming home to an empty apartment, and that sometimes I don’t have any plans for the weekend. Not because that inherently makes me happy or is what I like, but because it’s forcing me to be alone, and that is helping me grow.

And that is what this whole thing is about. That is what 24 (and maybe 25 and 26) is about for me…growth. I’ve got to make sure that when you look me up in the dictionary you’re getting an accurate definition and not one written by someone else. I might have been lying on the floor of my half-furnished downtown apartment on a Friday night with a glass of red wine and Orange is the New Black on Netflix when I realized all this – but hey, I’m sure some words/definitions has weirder etymologies.

There’s Nothing Like Your First Time

They say there is nothing like your first time…

Get it together people, my mom reads this. This post is all about some firsts I checked of my list this past weekend that are entirely PG.

I had my very first bialy. What is a bialy you ask? Well it’s like a bagel, but Polish, and it’s not boiled & baked it’s just baked and it doesn’t have a hole it has a dent. It was delicious and it came as part of an amazing breakfast I had at my new neighborhood bakery, Sweetish Hill Bakery while I was waiting for my U-box to be delivered to my brand new apartment. (Because another first I did this weekend was half-move into my first solo-apartment. That will need to be an entirely separate post at some point.) In addition to being yummy, bialys are kind of interesting since they are the like sad step-sister of bagels. You can read more about bialys here like I did while I was eating it.

Saturday, I also drove in Austin for the first time! And I didn’t hit anything and I didn’t kill anyone. And what’s more it was in this adorable Smart car.

Austin is one of several cities across the country (as well as Austria, Canada, Germany Great Britain, and Netherlands) that has Car2Go. Car2Go is everything you wish ZipCar was. You pick it up in one place and you can drive it to wherever you need to go and then when you’re done you leave it. As long as you park in a special Car2Go space or metered parking you are good to go. It’s awesome. Life changing one could say. Well life changing for me because everyone drives here and I don’t have a car and I don’t really want one. So, yeah, it’s kinda amazing. (I will admit, I used to think I’d like to own a Smart car…I’m adjusting those views, it is kinda like driving an enclosed golf cart…but hey, it gets the job done.)

Where did I drive this adorable vehicle you ask? To my friend’s apartment and then to UT’s campus to attend my very first tailgate. It was everything I could have dreamed y’all! Despite the fact that it was hot as all get out, there were men in jeans, boots, button downs and cowboy hats. And the world turned burnt orange. They know how to commit to a theme down here…or at least a color palate. We attended the tailgate organized by the student group at the law school. For $10 bucks we got all the burgers, hot dogs, Shiner Bock and Gin Bucket we could want. It was amazing. There were British exchange students doing keg stands. What’s better than that! Nothing. It was like living inside a strange country music jam and I loved every minute of it.

And this guy was outside the bar later. So there’s that.

Longhorn

Lots of firsts…and I’ll definitely be going back for seconds on all of them.

Farmer’s Market Follow-up

So this post is a quick follow up to my Farmer’s Market post. I wanted to share the yummy outcome of that wondrous $12 trip.

First, I used the sweet potatoes to make some Sweet Potato Quinoa cakes. Of course I found them on Pinterest. I didn’t have any fresh herbs, which definitely would have more them better but  they were still pretty tasty anyway. I made 8 instead of 4 which makes them less than 100 cals per pattie!

From How Sweet It Is by Jessica

Next up was my own creation. Stuffed Zucchini made with what I had on hand from the other recipes.

Ingredients:

1 zucchini

1/4 c. quinoa (cooked)

1/8 c. whole wheat bread crumbs

1/8 c. parmesan cheese, grated

1 tsp. minced garlic

I cooked the cooked the zucchini for 17 minutes at 350°. The I scooped out the center, missed it with the other ingredients, sprinkled a few more bread crumbs on top and broiled it for 3 minutes.

At 118 cals for each half it made a great dinner/lunch. If I made it again I think I might include sun-dried tomato, or some basil.

Last but not least I made Roasted Summer Squash with Mint and Lemon also from Pinterest.

From Kalyn’s Kitchen

It was the perfect way to enjoy some summer squash before it’s time to start making winter squash creations.  It was so light and fresh and let me tell you, it made my apartment smell amazing. I could have sat there and ate the whole pan!

Did Someone Say Free?

There are a couple things you should know about moving miles and miles away from your home base. 1) It ain’t cheap. 2) Your social calendar will take a hit.

Eventually both of those things will work themselves out but as we’re on day 8 in Austin they are both still 100% true for me. Enter Austin’s Free Day of Yoga.  It’s like they knew I’m poor and friendless (ok, that second part isn’t true, I have friends…just limited friends in Austin, and it’s a holiday weekend so they had stuff to do, just like I probably would have if I was in Boston so it’s totally fine).

Austin isn’t the only city that does Free Day of Yoga so I strongly suggest you check out the link. You can even learn how to go about creating a Free Day of Yoga in your city if they don’t already have one. If you’ve ever been to Austin you can’t really be surprised that it was founded here. There are Yoga studios all over the place!

I’ve done yoga off of DVDs (either in the gym in high school or from the comfort of my own home) but I’ve never actually taken a formal class. When I visited and noticed how popular yoga is in Austin I knew I wanted to try it. FDoY was my chance to kill two birds with one stone – try a yoga class risk free and kill some time.

I love a long weekend just as much as the next person, but as someone who draws energy from being around other people I’ve had to work pretty hard to not go insane these past few days. So I when learned about this most amazing of events I kind of planned my weekend around it. Free Day of Yoga was today, Labor Day, but there was a kick off festival yesterday morning. I did both.

The Kick-off was in Tillery Park which is not within walking distance from my current digs so this was a perfect opportunity to experiment with riding the bus. The Capital Metro buses are only a dollar a ride. So that’s nice and cheap. The downside is that they are not NextBus tracked so there really isn’t a way to see in real time if your bus is coming. However, each bus stop in the city has an ID number and you can text that number to Dadnab and you’ll get texts back with the next 4 or 5 departure times for all the buses at that stop. Google Maps even lists the bus stop ID when you get transit directions online. If you’re at the bus stop you can also scan a QR code that launches a mobile site that does the same thing. My bus to the park was 4 minutes behind schedule but the one I took home was right on time. I’m not sure I’ll use the bus as much as I used public transit in Boston but I’m glad I’ve figured out how it works right away.

I didn’t spend as much time at the kick-off as I had planned. I probably shouldn’t have gone right at 9am,but the first 100 people got a goodie bag and I wanted it!

2 coconut waters, 2 Kind bars, a sweat band, a pen, a magnet, some yoga coupons, and some vegan soap. Not bad.

I honestly would have stayed longer but I’ve come to learn that it can be humid in the mornings here until the heat of the day burns it off. It’s not oppressive or anything, but not comfy. As cute as Tillery was it was kinda buggy and once I had talked to the couple of vendors that had gotten there on time and set up I was ready to scoot out.

Tons and tons of studios all over Austin participate in FDoY. I narrowed it down to the ones I could easily walk to from my apartment. When I saw that Wanderlust was one of those I picked it immediately. My good friend that moved here in July has already been and reported good things. It also has an amazing website with a great story that I totally ate right up so I was sold.

So today at Noon I rented a mat for $2 (I actually own one but alas, it’s in a U-box making its way to TX from MA) and took my first ever yoga class. It was a Vinyasa class, which to anyone unfamiliar with yoga is just one of many styles of practice. The room was slightly heated. I was so proud of myself for bringing a little towel. I became less proud as the class began and I realized I should have brought at least 4.

First of all the room was packed. We were very, very close to our neighbors. So close that at one point I kicked the guy behind me in the head. Yep, I kicked someone in the head today. I apologized as soon as class ended and he was pretty nice about it. But that didn’t stop me from feeling really bad. I also of course had some type of yoga savant to my left during class. She didn’t even appear to be sweating. I, on the other hand, have never sweat more in my whole life. Literally, beads of sweat all over my body. If you had seen me after you would have though I just got caught in the rain. The only thing that made me feel better in the face of Ms. I’m-so-great-at-yoga-pants was the man diagonal to my right. He was maybe 40, I don’t know. I’m bad with ages, but his hair was all gray so I’m gonna go with 40. He was pouring sweat like nothing I’ve ever seen. Seriously it was like a faucet. I swear there was standing water on his mat.

Sweaty silver-fox aside, I was really surprised by the number of men in the class. I guess I’ve always just thought of yoga as a predominately female activity. I’m not exactly sure where that comes from. Maybe because women tend to be more flexible. The class did skew female but there were at least a dozen guys in there. And they weren’t just tagging along with their girlfriends or anything. A bunch of them knew what they were doing. While I laughing on the inside at the idea that the instructor actually thought I could do a head stand, they were crushing it.

It was really busy in there today, I barely got a minute to appreciate the cute interior.

An hour later I emerged from the dimly-lit sweaty room quite damp but also really happy. I wouldn’t go so far as to say addicted, but I definitely want to do it again. Usually when I’m not good at something I don’t like doing it. However, today when I couldn’t do something, instead of being discouraged, my mind immediately went to “Can I practice this and get better?” Good news is there is a yoga studio in town that does “pay what you can” so I can take classes for as little as $5. And Wanderlust offers a 30 days for $35 special too. So I think I’ll be able to start incorporating some yoga into my life here in Austin which is exciting.

To reward myself for a job well done, and truly start my Austinite transformation I stopped by Daily Juice and got a juice for lunch on the way home. (I grabbed one called Pineapple Popeye, it was so yummy. Green drinks my friends, they’re where it’s at!)

I may not be used to filling my weekends with solo-activities but I think I did a decent job. Moving here was all about trying new things, challenging myself and living a happier, healthier life. I think this weekend was a solid start.

Have you tried anything new recently?

When You Know, You Know

So I’ve been in Austin a week. Bam! One week down. I can’t say I’m settled in but I’m starting to get my bearings.

It helps that I started my new job. I am a much better human when I have a schedule. Some people might think that the type of person who applies for a job and then moves 1,700 miles to start it roughly a month later is inherently spontaneous. Those people are wrong. I like to know where I’m gonna be and what I’m gonna being doing in advance. The more details that can be ironed out the better. The ones that can’t…well create multiple plans based on the variable that’s unknown. That’s how I roll.

Starting on Monday was a great choice. It was a slow start. I am used to 10 hour work days, and go-go-going. When I started as an Assistant Planner I was coming from being the Intern so I’ve never really had to experience this whole “on-boarding” thing. I’m not so great at it. I kept asking my new assistants and the planner that’s transitioning off the account if I could help them and they tried to be nice but I know in their heads they were thinking “How are you going to help? You don’t know anything about the account or the campaigns yet? We don’t know if you actually even know anything at all.”

Late Wednesday I was actually able to contribute. The account is shifting ad-servers to Doubleclick so I think I built some solid trust with my assistants with my MediaVisor and DFA skills. I might not know the agency’s trafficking process, but I know trafficking. I’ve spent more hours staring at DFA than I care to count, and I think they believe me so that’s a start. I’ve come to realize that coming in as the Planner having never been the Assistant on the account has its pros and cons. I want to be the smartest person in the room, so not having that background and the knowledge of process is a con. But the upswing of that is since I don’t know that nitty gritty admin stuff, it really means I have to take a more managerial role. My place is to guide my assistants and help them time manage, but in the end I have to let them actually do it. I think I struggled with that at my old job because I just wanted to get things done and I knew I did them faster.

These are the Palm Trees that are outside my office. You know, because that’s normal.

Just in case you think I’m getting a little braggy about already crushing it at my new job, I’d like to point out that for the first two days I only knew where one of the kitchens was and I was walking up a flight of stairs to get coffee and water. New things are hard.

Starting Monday was also a good choice because I started with 4 other new hires so I have some built in buddies. We’ve already done a happy hour. I think I’m solidly on my way to having friends! In all seriousness the girls I started with are awesome and all have such killer life stories and past job experiences I’m jealous. I am the only one who didn’t go to UT but so far no one’s holding that against me.

In addition to starting my new job this week I signed a lease. The fact that I will not be homeless in a couple of weeks is quite nice. I was pretty much on the verge of panic there for a while. I’m still a little uneasy about this whole living alone thing being permanent. On the other hand I am getting pretty used to walking around in my underwear just because I can, so there’s that.

I’m also getting kinda used to this. Good thing my real apartment will have a pool too.

Being a twentysomething with a solid amount of student debt the costs of this move and of living alone in a city are a little unnerving. And until I get that first state-income-tax free paycheck on the 13^th I’m gonna be on edge. But it’s starting to all feel worth it.

If you’ve been following me you know I took a morning to say so long to Boston. In all honesty as I walked through the Public Gardens that day I thought to myself “What have you done?!” But I know I made the right choice in leaving. Even with a whole weekend spent solo-adventuring, living out of a suit case (ok two suitcases) in an apartment that does nothing but remind me I will never get to live in a luxury residence for real, I feel good. It’s hard to explain but it’s one of those things that when you know, you just know.

Knock, Knock. Who’s There? Farmer’s Market

Chronologically speaking, this post should be about how I’m settling in, my first week on the job, signing my lease, ect. But that’s just going to have to wait. I’m having a beautiful Saturday and I’d rather talk about that. Maybe I’ll feel more reflective tomorrow. We’ll see.

So, since I only have a few friends in Austin and they are all out of town this weekend, I had a quiet Friday night and I ended up getting up pretty early this AM (7) and I was able to go for my first outside run here in Austin. 78 degrees at 7:15am is something I will have to get used to, but all in all it was a good run – super pretty along Town/Lady Bird Lake (aka, a damned off section of the Colorado River, we can discuss how it bothers me that it’s a river, but it gets called a lake another time).

I had intended on following my run up with breakfast and then heading straight down to the pool to layout before the triple digit temps rolled in come afternoon. But, while I was drinking my coffee I looked out my windows and noticed this:

 Obviously, I wanted to know what was going on with all the tents, so naturally I pulled out my iPhone. First I Google Mapped since I hadn’t the foggiest what the name of the green square was.

Turns out it is called Republic Square Park. If you’d like to be a nerd like me you can click on the hyper-link and read all about it, cliff notes, it might be a little square of mostly dead grass, but it’s been there a long time and is kinda a thing.

From there I googled “Republic Square Park August 31st” and came to learn that what I was gazing upon from my bougie temporary home was none other than the set up of a Farmer’s Market that runs 9am-Noon every Saturday. Let’s start with how it’s a year-round Farmer’s Market. I get it, I’m in Texas and it is warm here, but my poor New England self thinks of a Farmer’s Market as a May-Oct phenomenon. It’s not as shocking to me that it’s warm enough here year round to grow things, it’s the idea that it’s warm enough year round to shop for them outside.

It gets better, this particular Farmer’s Market is one of four that happen in Austin each week organized by the Sustainable Food Center. Definitely click on that link. If you know me you know that essentially as soon as that page loaded I was going down to that market. The pool could wait.

Saturday morning Farmer’s Markets already give me the warm fuzzies because I have such fond memories of going to them with my Mom growing up and picking out things for us to have that weekend and upcoming week. We always grabbed a basil plant at the start of the season…and usually another one in the middle since green thumbs don’t really run in our family (yes, my Mother and I are capable of killing a small potted herb in less than a couple months…it’s not our fault). In fact, while I was at this Farmer’s Market, I texted my Mom and she was at ours back home at the same time!

The next thing I loved about this is that it is solidly organized. It has to be at least 51% farmers (not that I don’t love the baked goods and jams and organic soaps…). If you forget cash, the info tent is equipped with an ATM. I almost never have cash but the other day at Whole Foods I happened to get $20 cash back. It was like divine intervention or something. What really impressed me was this statement though:

Sustainable Food Center cultivates a healthy community by strengthening the local food system and improving access to nutritious, affordable food. SFC envisions a food secure community where all children and adults grow, share and prepare healthy, local food.

If you’re on EBT or WIC you can use that to buy produce. I’m sorry but that’s cool. My Dad informed me that our Farmer’s Market at home is the same way, so maybe this is common. But if it is I think it should be more widely talked about. I’m not gonna go all out on this, but everybody know the packaged crap that you’re not supposed to eat is the cheapest. So I’m super on board with supporting an organization that is trying to help people make the right food choices regardless of their finances.

I’m totally a sucker for all things local. I blame my tenure in Somerville and Jamaica Plain. I totally drank the local kool-aid, but it’s fine, becuase everyone in Austin drank it too so I fit right in. I gave the whole market a walk around and decided that I wanted to make sure I bought things from several different vendors. I wish I remembered which ones so I could give them probs. But I totally didn’t write them down. whomp. whomp.

I think I did pretty well. for $12 I got everything you see below:

That one bushel of kale alone comes out to more than a gallon sized ziplock’s worth of greens. I though that was a pretty good deal. I certainly would not have been able to get all that for $12 at Whole Foods. (Not to rag on Whole Foods, because I love it there and I went there later today and got the rest of things I need to whip up some really yummy stuff this week.)

Since I had done so well I decided I could afford 2 Migas Breakfast tacos from the Tacodeli tent! ($4.50)

I’m totally on board with the Breakfast Taco thing. I don’t understand why I haven’t been eating tacos at breakfast all along!

I’m planning on making this Farmer’s Market a serious staple in my Austin life. I’ve already decided I’m going to need to get a bike to allow me to explore things in a wider radius and more easily do grocery shopping. Now I can add this to the list of reasons I really need one sooner rather than later.

Right now I’m really looking forward to the squash I got. I’ve never had summer squash that was yellow and green! Winter squash was already out, there were the cutest little butternut squashes. I’m already pinning some hearty soup recipes to take advantage of those if it ever gets cooler here.

What are your favorite Farmer’s Market Finds?