"Wanna take a picture with a real redneck?"

Blog post title = second question we were asked upon arriving in Texas, the first?

Where are ya'll from?

Haha I guess we stick out like a sore thumb! But then again we were all taking pictures of the Dixie Ranch...the little diner we stopped at straight outta the airport.

It lived up to true Texas stereotypes thats for sure.  2 of the 4 vegetables I ordered had bacon mixed in them...let's just say the most refreshing part of my lunch was the ice water with lemon!

I'm reading "What the Dog Saw" by Malcom Gladwell, 1. I love this book!! (and the other two books I've read by Gladwell are excellent as well, Tipping Point and Blink!) 2. This is the PERFECT travel book, it's a collection of Gladwell's essays that he wrote for the New Yorker.  Excellent for picking up and reading for a bit when you have down time on vacation but don't really have the mental capacity to focus on an intense novel.

The hotel gave us a choice of soft or firm pillows AND we have sleep number beds...feels like first class to me.

Like the focusing on the picture? I've been trying really hard this trip to only use my new 50mm lens, just to force myself to get used to the prime lens (prime lens = no zooming) and get used to NOT using manual focus.

This is my coworker Ashley, I caught her being beautiful :) (although really it wasn't that hard)

This is my other coworker Lee, I caught her primping. (Also this wasn't hard...three girls in one hotel room there has been a lot of makeup and hair time. Also check out Lee's blog she's kind of a big deal!)

Alright now on to the really good stuff- SOUTH BY SOUTHWEST!

First up we went to get our badges. Badge = god here at SXSW.  It gets us into all the SXSW shows, sessions, panels, parties, etc etc.

Second best to the badge? The SCHEDULE.  I panicked a little today when I thought I misplaced this baby!  Also this is my other coworker Joey furiously studying the schedule.

Also what did I say about getting a taco?  Yum yum yum sorry for the bad picture but I still haven't figured out how to take good night photos!

After all that business of travel and what not Joey and I headed out to some shows!  The first on we hit up was obviously the Pitchfork Showcase at Emo's.  I love Pitchfork, although they can be a bit snotty at times they always put on a good show.

Weekend

Of course this entire showcase was one big Chillwave haze, and I loved it :) I'll start listening to music with clear vocals and instrumentals sometime soon...but for now I like the ethereal haze of chillwave music.  It's not like the sound at most of these venues is really that clear anyways.  Chillwave is my favorite style of musc right now (even though it gets a bad hipster rep) just because it's great to zone out to on the bus, while doing hw, an especially perfect for listening to when I make art.

Long story short the first show we saw was Weekend- I am definitely going to find some of their music online when I get home.

Next up we saw Beach Fossils. Can I just say, I love Beach Fossils but they looked like they were about 16 years old! They were still chugging Imperials and PBR's like true hipsters but I almost wanted to ask them where their chaperon was, haha.  They put on an excellent show though and they said they had been driving straight to Austin Texas from Brooklyn New York for 36 hours- yiiikes.

After Beach Fossils we started heading home but Joey's favorite band, The Sounds, was playing at another venue, the line was short, and amazingly we got in!  Another excellent show- no pictures though because A. it was too sweaty and packed to deal with my large camera and B. I'm bad at taking pictures at shows anyways.  I definitely need a wide angle lens and an external flash or something before I can work for the press.

Alright I'm off to see some more shows. The Strokes and Lupe Fiasco? Yes. Please. I hope I can get in...