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A Sunday In Paris

October 27, 2015 by Kristin

Our first full day in Paris, beyond Marché Bastille {Bastille Market}, was unplanned. The only things we knew for certain were that we wanted deux cafés and a bite to eat. Within minutes of entering the market, we found or café, a croissant for mom, a quiche for me, and cannelés for both of us to try.

I expected to find cheese. Lots of it. So after sitting on a marble bench enjoying crisp air and warm eats, I wasn’t surprised to find seemingly endless rows of vendeurs de fromage.

But what did catch me by surprise was the amount of fresh seafood and meat available. There were easily ten times as many varieties of fish and cuts of meat at this market than at your best American grocery.

And that thing about the French being rude to Americans? We found that a well-timed smile and a simple “bonjour” was all that was needed in exchange for the guidance we were looking for.

After Marché Bastille, we headed to Marche d’Aligre , which didn’t have nearly as many options. But if this market was at home, you’d better bet that I’d be hitting this place up on the regular for blog props as vintage plates and silverware were a plenty.

From there we headed to Jardin du Luxembourg. Filled from end to end with statues and perfectly manicured autumn trees, this garden was of the most beautiful outdoor spaces I’d ever seen. My favorite was the Fontaine Médicis {pictured above}.

The lion statues really didn’t do much for me as I was walking by. But as I turned around to take a last look of all of the sights I’d just seen, I noticed that the lion and I were soaking up the same view of Luxembourg Palace. And the view of the lion viewing the Palace felt pretty special to me.

And as we were exiting Luxembourg, the Fontaine des Quatre du Parties World caught my attention. The contrast between the patinated bronze and the burnt orange, fall leaves in the backdrop was breathtaking.

Many businesses and museums were closed because it was Sunday, but we managed to fill our day getting acquainted with the city on foot, walking almost 20,000 steps {about 10 miles!}. My first impression of Paris is that it’s one of those cities that you can walk without purpose for hours on end and feel accomplished by that alone.

Follow along on my trip by checking out my Instagram feed!

ACL 2015 – Tunes & Eats

October 7, 2015 by Kristin

Weekend 1 of ACL 2015 – ch-ch-check! This was my third ACL in a row with Emily, my college roommate {the blondie pictured above}, and we’ve got our fest process down. Luckily for Em, I learned the hard lesson of over-doing it my first year. I was soooooo excited to live in Austin, the weather was perfect, I was bouncing from stage to stage with two college buddies, I thought after-partying was a good idea, and I thought after-after-partying was an even better idea. Day 2 of the festival was miserable. I stood sickly in the rain as I feigned excitement over Metric, walked a soaking wet walk home, changed into PJs, ordered Chinese food, and gave my wrist band away for the remainder of the fest.

So like I said, things are totally different now. First off, we eat and we eat well! Since I live walking distance to Zilker Park, we were able to stop at one of my neighborhood favorites, Cafe Josie, for a line-less {yet fabulous} lunch. I veered from my usual goat ribs order and went with the redfish tacos and an aperitif. I’m super obsessed with aperitifs lately. So herby and refreshing, they’re my lunch cocktail of choice.

After arriving and splitting a bottle of white wine {they come in reusable water bottles and are most definitely the way to go}, we walked straight to the HomeAway stage to watch Albert Hammond Jr., who was one of the first bands I discovered on Sirius XMU in 2006. I haven’t gotten much into his new albums, but I loved that he played so many tunes from Yours to Keep, like In Transit, 101, and Everyone Gets a Star. It was nostalgia at its finest.

The rest of the day was non-stop. We went straight from Albert Hammond Jr. to Leon Bridges, Brand New, Tame Impala, and Foo Fighters. Although I don’t have a video of Leon Bridges, he’s a must see. A young gentleman from Fort Worth, Leon’s soulfully vintage sound is sure to make you feel good. And gracefully skipping over Brand New, Tame Impala was my favorite of the day. Balancing established hits and tracks from their newest album, Tame Impala’s playlist was ideal for old and new fans, alike. And lastly, Foo Fighters. Playing a decent set, they allowed the older members of the crowd {like me!} to cross things like hearing Everlong live off their bucket list.

After eating well and a tune filled day, my best advice is to go home early {skip that after party}, SLEEP, and do it all again. Oh! And fit in a Juiceland trip when you can.

We kicked off Day 2 with green smoothies, pulled ourselves together, and re-kicked off Day 2 by heading to South Congress and putting our name on the list at South Congress Cafe. My advice for a trip to South Congress Cafe is to never go starving and always have the desire to shop. They’ll take down your number and text when your table is ready, which is likely an hour later. That hour will give you plenty of time to shop the strip {Parts & Labour, Y & I, Maya Star, By George, Allen’s Boots, Uncommon Objects}. I ordered the burger with smoked gouda, crispy prosciutto, and caramelized onion and I would do it again in a heartbeat. Crispy prosciutto was like a heavenlier version of bacon {if you can imagine such a thing}. And the fries were on point!

Day 2’s lineup wasn’t super impressive {to us}, so we took our time heading back to the house and then to the fest. We stayed for most of Alabama Shakes, but when Em noticed there wasn’t much of a crowd gathering in front of the Miller Lite stage, we darted over for a front row TV on the Radio spot. Not much was played from my fav album, Desperate Youth, Blood Thirsty Babes, but Tunde Adebimpe’s powerful voice and indie-rock-before-indie-rock-was-adult-comtemporary dance moves were more than enough to satisfy this old fan.

We ended the music portion of the night on that high note and chose watching the Gators WHOOP Ole Miss at the beer tent over listening to Drake. You gotta love a Texas festival’s appreciation for college football!

Day 3 started off with a mutual favorite, Josephine House. Ever since Em’s first visit, we’ve joked about {and ordered} a bevy of beverages. Before the food arrived, our table was filled with waters, French press coffees, and Jo House Fruit Cups {Old Overholt Rye, muddled lemon, lime, orange, mint, cucumber, house fruit cup blend}. Not wanting to commit to total savory or total sweet, we split the lemon ricotta pancakes {which I’ve uncharacteristically eaten about three times this month because they’re that good} and short rib hash. We left full and ready to take on our last day fest-ing day.

Beginning with Strand of Oaks and The Decemberists, I could only half pay attention because I just wanted it to be Kurt Vile time. I missed seeing Kurt Vile at Fun Fun Fun Fest a few years back and seeing him play was my top priority this year. And he didn’t disappoint. Standing at the shady stage on a sunshiny but breezy day, we got a little Jesus Fever, Pretty Pimpin’, Goldtone, and Wakin on a Pretty Day. At that point, I couldn’t have asked for anything more.

And then The Strokes played. It was too dark, too dance-y, and too far away for a video, but wow! I heard a lot of rubbish and forecasted disappointment over The Strokes headlining Weekend 1 and, although I disagreed plenty before, I soap-box-style disagreed afterward. The Strokes have been relevant for almost two decades, were pioneers in making indie rock accessible, and were likely influential to half the bands that play at ACL each year. That, in conjunction with putting on a solid rock ‘n’ roll performance, made them the perfect last taste of my ACL 2015 weekend!

‘Til next year, ACL!

Holman Ranch – Carmel Valley, CA

September 23, 2015 by Kristin

The last stop in California after winding through the Pacific Coast Highway was an overnight stay at Holman Ranch. It’s unbelievable how driving twenty minutes can result in such a drastic change in scenery. It was shocking, really. We pulled off to the side of the road to overlook a town filled with rolling, green hills and vineyards in every direction.

We picked up our keys at the tasting room and drove down a quaint residential road to get to the ranch. As we pulled up to the entrance, we were greeted by a deer that seemed to enjoy staring at us equally as much as we enjoyed staring at her. We entered the ranch, drove through an equestrian scene of horse stables and a jumping arena, and arrived at Guest Room #08, our home for the night.

We settled in and freshened up before meeting with Holman Ranch’s Nick Adams for a tour through the closest vineyard and the winery. Nick’s family is the fourth to take ownership of the ranch since its opening in the 1920s. And although many updates have been made to the property, Nick pointed out that his family has taken special care to maintain the historic integrity of the site, whether it be through re-using the existing barrel roof tiles when re-roofing the hacienda {as fragile as they may be} or restoring the large, exposed wood beams at the ceiling rather than replacing.

And since I’m construction gal by day {and a LEED AP!}, I couldn’t have perked up more when Nick began talking about Holman Ranch’s farming practices and how they are a SIP {Sustainably in Practice} certified vineyard. Simplified immensely, SIP certification verifies the farmer meets minimum water and energy conservation standards, upholds water and air quality standards, and uses organic pest control measures.

I was pleased, but not surprised, to find out that all of the wine we’d be drinking throughout the evening would also be certified organic wine. Not just wine made with organic grapes, organic wines are free of chemicals from farming through production. That means no sulfites either!

Nick went on further to define the style of their wine as old world and un-messed with, contrary to most California wines that are notoriously over-produced. I felt an immediate fondness to the phrase un-messed with as it aligns so well with my food philosophy.

This was the first winery tour where we given the opportunity to sample wines in various stages of the fermentation process. I especially enjoyed tasting an early sparkling wine at a time when its acid content was extremely high. Tart as tart could be, I could not drink more than a few sips. But it was an interesting experience, nonetheless.

My favorite {for real} wine of the evening was the chardonnay. Shocked because I’m not typically a white wine drinker {unless it’s a blanc}, I was really impressed with this wine’s crispness and subtle hint of pear {which I recognized only after another guest pointed it out}.

Unfortunately, I had a flight out of LAX the next day and didn’t have much time to take advantage of every amenity the ranch had to offer. I did, however, have time to send a picture of the conference room to my boss and ask if we could have our next strategic planning meeting at Holman Ranch {an event that the ranch is perfectly equipped for}!

Disclosure: Although Holman Ranch kindly hosted us, the opinions in this post are completely my own and based on my experience.

Pacific Coast Highway Road Trip

September 18, 2015 by Kristin

After a night at Lucia Lodge, we ate a quick continental breakfast and packed up the car – it was time for more Pacific Coast Highway road trip! We lasted about 30 minutes buckled in before having to pull over to soak it all in {again} and snap more pictures. I could have stared at this bridge for hours.

And even though I’m not one to sit still, everything about breathing in the ocean air, watching brightly colored flowers dance in the breeze, and hearing the salty Pacific rush to the shore, made stillness comfortable.

And the scale! At barely 5′-3″, feeling small is a usual feeling for me. But as I looked at the rocks beyond and my feet below, I felt an insignificance that felt… good. My surrounds were gigantic, larger than life, older than, well, dirt. Panic over missing an email? Aren’t I too small to worry about such a thing?

We hopped back in the car and headed to {if you can believe it} an even more breathtaking sight. Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park was seriously magical. Waterfalls are kind of magical on their own, but combined with the most crystal blue water {ever}, massive cliffs, sandy beach, forest trees, palm trees – it was like all of the most stunning features of nature were plopped unfairly into one place!

This is the first time I’m sharing these photos and, already, I’ve had family and friends asking how soon I’d be ready to do it again. The answer is that I’m ready now! But fall is just full. It’s festival season in Austin {ACL & FFF!!}, mom/daughter Paris trip in October, and Christmas in Florida – another Pacific Coast Highway trip is going to have to wait until 2016.

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