Austin Trip -- Operation find a place to live

After finally getting all my ducks in a row with who was watching Mimi and Buddy, I travelled to Austin Friday morning at 4am and stayed through Sunday.  We went apartment/condo/house hunting.  What a whirlwind.

Coffee and Trashy Magazines, Travel is a GO
I landed Friday at 11am and spent the afternoon with our leasing agent looking at about 12 properties that I had tagged as possibilites from the MLS listings.  Now, let me just tell you, it kind of stings going from being a homeowner back to renting.  We are keeping our house in FL as a rental property, so we plan on renting in Austin for a few years while we learn the city and save up another downpayment for a house.  

So out of the 12 we saw, there were only 2 that I thought Franks would want to see.  He got in Austin that night and we got some dinner at Snackbar in SoCo and had the best PBLTS I have ever had (Pork Belly Lettuce Tomato Sliders).  It was so refreshing just sitting out on a patio, listening to live music, and drinking a beer with my husband.  I missed him so much this past week.  I loved the atmosphere in SoCo.  For one, I didn't feel old.  When you live in a college town and are pushing 30 you tend to feel a little older than the normal crowd, but not in Austin.  There were couples, old and young, families with babies and dogs in tow.  I really feel like our little family will enjoy living in Austin.

Saturday we met back up with the leasing agent and saw the two places.  One was a smallish condo in the northwest area, while the other was a HUGE house in the northeast area.  Franks wasn't too happy with either.  After we parted ways with the agent, we took a few hours and drove around the neighborhoods of both places and checked out what was around, what the neighborhoods were like, etc.  We ate lunch at this friggin' amazing burger joint, I think it was called Burger TX 2.  I had the Hawaiian burger with slices of pineapple and teriyaki sauce. YUM.  I know what Courtney was talking about now with the food in Austin. Holy Crap, I better find some fun running routes or I'm gonna gain back that 80 lbs.  Anyway...back to homes, we decided we weren't happy with either place.

We ended up stopping at this really cool looking apartment complex just north of downtown.  We were WOWED.  We've never lived in this type of apartment. Very sleek and posh with swanky kitchens.  The  happiness on Franks' face told me he had found where he wanted to live.  To be perfectly honest, this place really isn't me.  But it's a 2 bedroom, 2 bath, with a huge kitchen and gigantic closets.  There's also a nice pool, gym, dog park and ample parking and access to all types of public transportation for quick commutes downtown.  Franks was sold.  We put down a deposit and we can move in June 24.  He said if after 1 year, I'm unhappy with the place we'll move.  They also rent huge storage closets there for cheap too, so we can store things like strollers, wagons, camping gear, christmas decorations etc for $20 and not clutter up the apartment.  I'll say it again, I feel kind of a sting being a renter again, but Franks is happy, Mimi will have her own swank room, bathroom and walk-in closet and we'll have a good first year.  So if any of you are planning to visit, hope you don't mind crashing in the living room......that's the sucky part :-(

Saturday night we went to Zilker park to check out what's there to do since our family loves the outdoors.  HOLY BEAUTIFUL park.  I see Mimi and I spending a lot of time there.

Our New City!

Relaxing after a stressful home finding day...

Later we went and saw a movie at the Alamo theatre which was a totally new movie viewing experience.  We ate "badass nachos" while watching "Your Highness" which wasn't as funny as we were thinking it would be, but got some laughs out of us all the same.

This morning Franks dropped me at the airport after some breakfast tacos, we exchanged some teary-eyed hugs and miss yous and then I boarded the plane back to FL.  

Now the fun begins for real.  This apartment is set up in such a way that our dining and living room furniture won't work.  We plan in leasing our FL house furnished, selling the furniture, or storing some it until we buy or rent a bigger place.  Let the packing, selling, and purging begin!