Country Living Fair - Austin, TX

Wow! What a fun trip.

I love my kids but it sure is nice to spend a weekend with just my hubby. We flew to Austin, TX to attend the Country Living Fair and to check out the town. I apologize now for the quality of my photos....I chose to rely exclusively on my i-phone for the weekend.

Doll Chandelier anyone?

This piece here was incredible. I was calling home to find out measurements of a particular wall where I knew it would fit perfectly. It would hold my 'collections' in style!

How cute would these faces look over the head of a bed? They are vintage carnival characters.

The adorable vintage trailers from Sisters on the fly were available to tour. Ooh I'd love to have one of these. The detailed attention these ladies took in their decor and restoration is admirable.

Dan and I with Country Living editor Sarah Gray Miller

Jourdan Crouch, Senior Editor of Country Living Magazine wrote the article on my shutter wall and was in fact the one to discover it on my blog.

Natalie Warady was the stylist for the April photo shoot of my shutter wall. This is our picture from the Country Living photo booth with my mom's dog Gracie.

Check out Gracie's photos on one of the vendor's websites where she is modeling her new necklace.

Friday night we went to Lustre Pearl, an old home transformed into a happening bar complete with ping pong tables, hula hoops and a taco truck in the back yard. It was featured in the magazine a couple months ago so I was excited to check it out and spend some more time with the crew from Country Living.

Brent Beekman from The Beekman Boys was one of the featured speakers at the fair. We hung out at Lustre Pearl where he joked about milking pygmy goats with Dr. Oz. I totally need a goat.

We walked from our hotel downtown to the capital and then bussed to South Congress street to check out the shops and food carts.

Austin did not feel very "Texas" although I did see a cowboy on a horse walking down the street.

These boots were beautiful, however they were also a pretty penny. Maybe someday...

Vintage clothing shops line South Congress street. I could have done some serious damage here.

While in town, I was fortunate to meet up with my first friend from Kindergartern. I remember Ann asking me if I wanted to play on that momentous occasion of the first day of school. I can still see our parents standing outside the windows of the classroom, waving at us.

Saturday was Dan's birthday. After hours of shopping (obviously his favorite thing to do), we enjoyed dinner with my parents at The Oasis at Lake Travis.

It was great seeing my mom and dad who drove out to Austin to spend time with us. My mom reminded my dad to shave...his beard....on his hand. He had skin cancer on his hand a few years ago and so they did a skin transfer from his neck to cover the area they removed. So yes. He has to shave his beard....on his hand. This makes me laugh every time I see it.

The night scene in Austin is definitely happening. 6th street is reminiscent of New Orleans minus the beads. You can drink on the bar roof tops and watch all the people wander the closed off street below. We meandered down to West 6th Street where the "older folk" hang out. Ya know...like people in their thirties.

Found this wall in one of the bars which is inspiring me to mimic something similar in my kids rooms.

I heart the multiple love murals we saw in Austin. I watched someone photograph a beautiful pregnant woman holding her belly in front of this red spray painted wall. Perfect photo opp...