Oops.  I’ve been back from Austin for 2 weeks and haven’t blogged.  I’m going to try to get back on a quasi-regular schedule here.  Sometimes after a long day, you don’t want to blog.  You just want to watch episodes of Breaking Bad and eat Fruity Pebbles….and then you repeat that pattern for 2 weeks. 

Anywho, I spent a great few days in Austin over Columbus Day weekend visiting family.  I arrived at my aunt & uncle’s house on Thursday at 4 pm.  My aunt immediately said, “You’re just in time for happy hour!”  I was promptly handed a glass of wine.  Oh yeah….I knew it was going to be a good time in Austin right away. 

Friday, I spent the day with my aunt Jill, uncle Carl, and my cousin, Kristy.  Kristy picked our lunch spot…Hopdoddy.

They grind their beef in-house and bake their buns fresh daily.  The buns!  The buns!  SO GOOD!  I went with the Magic Shroom burger:  beef, goat cheese, mushrooms, pesto.  Delicious!

After lunch, we walked around Congress Ave to check out some shops.

Lucy in Disguise with Diamonds costume shop, very cool!

They had a boat load of Dumb & Dumber suits.  Are those still popular for Halloween??

Uncommon Objects…definitely a store of oddities!

How do  you know what’s valuable and what’s junk?

I need to walk around this store with the Picker Sisters.

Next up, my cousin insisted that we go into the Big Top Candy Shop.  I figured that it was like any random candy store in a mall, so I resisted.  I’m SOOOOOOOOOOOoooooo glad we went in.  It is ahhhhh-mazing.

Eww or awesome?

I haven’t had Sixlets in forever!

Chewy Sprees!  Be still my heart.

Candy cigarettes?!  I thought those were illegal now.

Gummy bacon?!?!?!?  Strawberry flavored!

And lastly, cupcake flavored dental floss to clean between your teeth after all those sweets.  I think my gums would be in better shape if I had cupcake flavored dental floss.

More Austin fun to come soon!