Tara and Jaclyn's Austin Adventure: Day 1

I have had sufficient time to mourn Tara's departure, although I do wish she could have stayed forever... but lucky for me, we exchange an obscene amount of messages throughout the week that keep us attached and entertained.

I love Tara and I love Austin, so having her here was such a treat. It was fun showing her the little bit of Austin I know, and also experiencing a few new things together. The trip started off a little shaky with Tara missing her flight out of Baltimore. I woke up to a facebook message and e-mail from her Mom (oh, and I forgot to mention that Tara's cell phone was out of commission) letting me know that she had missed her flight and would be landing later in the afternoon than expected. I immediately wrote back letting her know that I would make sure I had my phone on me for when Tara landed and called me from a pay-phone. Thank God those still exist. But as I was blow-drying my hair, I remembered that it was April Fool's Day. I truly thought that Joni the Pony (Tara's Mom) had pulled off a good one. She called me at 8 am to "confirm that I got her message" as she had told me she'd do, and I was just waiting for her to say "APRIL FOOL'S!" and I would laugh out loud and give her the credit she deserved... but three minutes into the conversation, she still hadn't told me she had fooled me. It was true... Tara had missed her flight. I'm proud to have a best friend that trusted a laptop alarm clock to wake her up in place of her malfunctioning cell phone. Love her.

Long story short, she made it! She even got to spend an hour at my job, meet my favorite resident "Roy", and laugh with me when I told her that I had two residents attempt to eat the confetti off the table decorated for our Easter tea. Lesson learned. We made it back to the apartment and got ready for our first night in Austin! Our plan was to head downtown for 80's Ladies Sing Along at the Alamo Drafthouse which sounded awesome... but first we headed to Shady Grove for dinner. That was mine and Kristen's first time there as well, and we were all impressed. Especially by the large outdoor patio and the cheap margatitas - yum! We headed home and started gearing up for 80's night. And by gearing up, I mean Tara made enough room in her suitcase for hot pink fishnets, leg-warmers, mini skirt, and incredibly 80's accessories... and I rocked the cut-off Jesse Spano sweatshirt, leggings, cut-off jean shorts and crimped hair. We were in it to win it. We were brave enough to take the bus downtown (best thing about Austin... people are so diverse here that you can get away with anything) and we finally arrived at the drafthouse. Only to find out.... tickets are SOLD OUT. So disappointing. And at this point it's almost 10 pm. We've taken the bus downtown. We are not going home to change. So you had better believe that the three of us hit up 6th street completely decked out like Pat Benetar. We hit Austin with our best shot. Okay, that was bad. Despite the looks of confusion we got from other bar-goers, we had a blast. We danced the night away... which is definitely something I've missed doing with T. I was glad she got to experience the Chuggin' Monkey in all it's glory. The "stage" has now experienced two of Farmville's finest. After a full night of good drinks, good dancing, and good times (all in 80's garb), we hopped in a cab and hit the sack..... stay tuned for Day 2 of our Austin adventure.