More favorite New York pics.

This city.  In New York you can pretty much close your eyes, point your camera in a random direction and shoot something awesome. Here are some from Brooklyn and Greenwich Village.

Also...check out Hogwarts this scary castle-like building I shot! Not a touch of photo editing.

It freaks me out a little!

I Heart New York!

Last week, I traveled to New York for my jobby-job. In between meetings and professionalism, my buddy Stephanie and I ran around taking pictures!  That's a several story-tall Carrie Bradshaw above, strolling through the sky in Times Square.

We found a delightful restaurant in Chelsea called, I believe, "La Bottega." Isn't it rather lovely? Steph and I think something big-time was being filmed there...we saw director/actor trailers, signs with arrows that said "TO SET," and paparazzi.

Across the street, we had a meeting inside the Chelsea Market Building - truly one of the coolest spaces I have ever been in, with a small indoor waterfall. But with time to kill, we sauntered into this adorable cupcake shop, tucked away inside Chelsea Market Building's long, brick corridors.

(If it weren't for the meeting, friends, I assure you that I would have attacked one of these with my face.)

That night, we cruised down to Little Italy for dinner. On the way, we met up with Steph's friend Rene, who took a picture of us underneath some Little Italy bling!

Times Square...Chelsea...Little Italy...there was only one thing missing. What was it? Ah yes: foam Lady Liberty hats.

I'll miss you, New York.

The brains of Austin nightlife: Henri Mazza and Greg MacLennan

If you've been to an Alamo Drafthouse, or the bowling/karaoke/dance floor venue by the same owners - Austin's Highball - you know there are some seriously creative bashes that go down on an almost weekly basis. Like a Super Hero Dance Party. Mad Men Parties. Labyrinth Quote-a-Longs. Ladies of the 80's Sing-a-Longs. More Japan game show madness than anyone ever thought humanly possible.

In short, you might get the sense that a mad, mad genius is behind all of this.

And in fact, you would be correct. Two geniuses, actually.

Next week, I'll be interviewing Henri Mazza and Greg MacLennan, i.e. the Action Pack duo. Together, Henri and Greg organize these ridiculously cool theme parties at the Alamo Drafthouse and Highball, and even helped my friend Candace and I throw the Glam Off last month. It wouldn't be too far off the mark to say these men have my dream job, so I thought a sit-down fawn session was only appropriate!

But this is where YOU come in. KXAN will be plugging the upcoming interview on their entertainment site, NowAustin.com, and I believe on regular TV, too. We'll be conducting this interview on-camera, not in a super fancy way, but quality enough for the YouTubes. And what we want to know is this:

what would you like to ask the action pack?

Here are some example questions that I thought of:

1. How did you get the most badass job ever?

2. What is the best party you've ever thrown? (Besides the Glam Off, duh!)

3. What's the nuttiest thing you've ever seen go down at one of your bashes?

4. Have you ever considered a Golden Girls theme party?  (I call Blanche).

Submit your questions by next Monday, and I'll ask them on-camera. Can't wait to hear the ridonkulous things you guys come up with.

Noms alert: Snap Kitchen

Happy Wednesday, friends!

I, Tolly, am currently in New York, but the blogging shall go on in absentia. Today we are lucky to have Austin Eavesdropper guest blogger - and also my my dear friend - Breanna. She is a food writer, and she is lovely.

So recently, a new food shop in town, Snap Kitchen, got in touch with Breanna and I to see if we would like to sample their local, organic, healthy menu - for free, for three weeks. What a perplexing decision! We said yes, absolutely, and today, Breanna is going to give you an intro of sorts to this cool new local business. I'm going to post my thoughts later on, and tell you how it's going for me.

In the meantime, here's Breanna!:

There are some days when you just can’t possibly eat another burger/taco/Quizno’s sub (hey, don’t judge). You need something different. Healthy, even. And you would kindly like it prepared by someone else.

That is why I'm sampling Snap Kitchen, Austin's newest contribution to our growing cadre of food vendors. Situated in two locations, one at the Triangle at Guadalupe and Lamar, and the other on 6th and Lamar, their "pre-packaged, never-frozen meals" are – dare I say it – a step above the prepared foods at Central Market or Whole Foods. Really? you say. Yes, I say. REALLY.

Por ejemplo: For breakfast, you can try an asparagus and egg white strata, or if you prefer sweet, blueberry almond pancakes with agave nectar syrup.  Lunch options include hearty options like chicken and garlic pesto pasta, and dinner, might be citrus marinated flank steak. Pictured right are some SERIOUS noms, the spinach and beet salad with chicken, pecans and blue cheese, and if you like you like to customize things a bit, you can also stop in and build your own salad right there in the store.

(If you're wondering why these dishes sound so downright fancy, that's because Ethan Holmes designed the menu - former executive chef at La Taverna, and now Snap Kitchen's very own).

Here's another cool thing about Snap Kitchen: They’re way into local. As in, the chefs mosey over to the Triangle Farmer’s Market each week to pick up produce, and use that to create their dishes. The meats they use are high quality, and they incorporate organic foods whenever possible.

For our peeps who are gluten intolerant or have diabetes, Snap Kitchen’s got you covered there, too. The shop/restaurant offers several gluten-free and diabetic-friendly dishes, and each meal is nutritionally balanced with appropriate amounts of fat, carbohydrates, and protein. The full menu is online and shows you all the nutritional info, or you can even talk to their lovely on-site dietitian, Andrea Hinsdale, about your needs. She generously offered to let me taste-test some of Snap Kitchen’s meals gratis, and they were delish: buffalo quinoa hash and the flank steak lettuce wraps, anyone? Seriously. Good.

After all this, you would think Snap Kitchen would be pricey, but it’s not – none of the meals cost more than $11.

If you’re the highly motivated type  - i.e. the opposite of me - you can do the 21-day "Snap Commit" program. You get a 3-week meal plan from Andrea, and access to a local boot camp to whip your bootie into shape at the same time.

Tolly will have more posts on Snap Kitchen later, but if you'll excuse me, there's some baba ghanoush and whole wheat pita chips calling my name.

What's your favorite place in Austin?

So guess what, you guys? I am currently in New York. (Cue Alicia Keys!)

It's for work, but I'm still excited. Who doesn't love Manhattan? Especially if you're a writer, it's not hard to feel drunk with possibility while you're here. It's the city of titan book publishers. The home of The New Yorker.  The New York Times. 

The home - pause here for appropriate reverence - of Carrie Bradshaw's laptop.

Anyway!  We'll have content running through the Eavesdropper presses this week, both by me and some lovely Eavesdropper contributors. But since I'm away, I've been working on a post that I decided I need your help with.

See, a few days ago, I started writing a "Top Ten Places" in Austin list. All completely subjective and up to my whims, of course. But instead of just posting THE BEST places, according to me and that's it, I thought I'd reach out and get your opinions, too.

(Also, I know that not everyone who reads this blog lives in Austin. And to that I say, I'm sorry! But when you get to Austin - because eventually you will - the suggestions from locals will be valuable indeed. So I'm going to label this "Best of Austin" in the post tags below, and use that tag again when we run little "best of" lists or posts).

And now I turn to you, Austinites. What is your favorite place in Austin?

Truthfully, mine changes all the time. But if I had to choose - right now - I think I'd pick the low-lit, gorgeous corners of East Side Show Room. Especially with a jug band playing, and especially with silly friends. I know. I talk about it all the time. But look at it!

THIS WEEKEND: Keep Austin (Under-) Wired.

Forging ahead with this new, estrogen-guided trail Austin Eavesdropper is blazing lately, I have a special announcement for the lady readers of this blog today!

And for straight men who are comfortable enough with themselves to go bra shopping for their wives and girlfriends.

Now please excuse me while I attempt to write this post boob pun-free:

TODAY and tomorrow, local bra maker Megan Summerville is having a giant sale for her knickers/underthings shop, Sew Sister. And by "giant," I mean she literally has 9,000 bras for sale. For $10 each! Take that, Victoria's Secret. (or "Vicky C's," as my friend Beka likes to call it).

The sale is going on until 4pm today (Saturday), and from 7am - 4pm again tomorrow.  Megan won Texas Next Top Designer last year in 2009, so a bargain basement blowout this is not - it is a rather unique chance to get your girls fitted by a local expert. I was tipped off about the sale a few days ago from one of my fellow Mortified alums who works with Megan, and raves about this cool Austin business.

the sew sister sale
7505 delafield lane

austin, tx 78752

512-922-6843

sewsister.com

So if you fancy a new support system ladies, here is your chance, today and tomorrow. Because sometimes, we just need to renew our racks! (I mean, closets.)

WINNER for Peacock Plume.

For the Peacock Plume giveaway we held earlier this week, Ana was randomly selected to be our winner! Congratulations, Ana. She wrote in, as did many of you, to talk about some beloved cowboy boots:

My absolute favorite thing in my closet has to be my pink and black cowboy boots. I got them from some guy a few years ago. I saw one boot up on a shelf, and then I basically had to sift through all the junk in his shop to find the matching boot. But hey, they have butterflies stitched into them so it was totally worth it! 

As you can see, I just got my toy Diana F+ camera in the mail, and have been playing with it a little bit this week. I don't think I'm putting Annie Liebovitz out of a job just yet. But I'm having fun anyway!

Next week I leave for a little business trip to New York - whee! - so in between now and then I'll be getting lots of stuff in the Eavesdropper queue. This has been a rather girly week on Austin Eavesdropper, non?  Maybe I'll try to balance it out this weekend by talking about guy stuff. Actually - I take that back, since tomorrow morning's post will most definitely be about bras. (Seriously).

But I think the right man can appreciate a good bra.

I love Threadworthy.

 My dear friend Amber runs Threadworthy, an adorable little shop of her handmade, appliqued clothes and accessories. About a month ago, I took some pictures of her wares at Lantern Fest, and thought I'd share them with you all.

I think I fancy those cloth-covered journals best!  Not to be outdone by the vintage button rings, however.

Amber just might be the craftiest person I know, so I'm pretty thrilled the rest of the world can spy her talent now. She has these wonderful "crafternoons" at her house sometimes, where I made some of my Christmas presents last year. Also, she teaches at a school here in town where I used to work a few years ago, and where Ross still works as a music teacher. It is in fact the place where we met, and eventually got married! (Ross and I, not Amber and I). I'll have to tell you that story sometime.

Amber is restocking shop for Threadworthy right now, so when you visit, be sure to bookmark the page and come back later. When she does, I'm going to buy some presents for people.

Interview with Molly Sims.

Last week, I interviewed Molly Sims about her new jewelry line, Grayce, at Touch of Sass here in Austin. That's my sweet editor Carrie on the far right, and Molly in the middle. Aren't I the redheaded stepchild of these two blond glamazons?

During the interview, I was pleased to discover that ol' Molly is just about as low-maintenance as you can get for a famous person. I'm not sure what I was expecting - paps? A traveling bodyguard? - but she breezed in with her godson into Touch of Sass without a shred of celebrity pomp, and encouraged lots of pictures when we were all done. Tres refreshing, non?

You can read the article / watch the interview here!  I'm going to warn you right now that it wasn't the best hair day ever for me, but hopefully that's not a YouTube dealbreaker for you. Just know that while I'm asking questions to Molly about Grayce, I'm also secretly thinking: "Where can I get hair that shiny?"

Sexiest show promo video ever?

So my love for funk/dance/magic group, Casxio, is well-documented.  I discovered them during SXSW 2010 after parking my car so far into east Austin you could pretty much consider it Elgin, Texas. While trekking down east 6th, I heard the melodious sounds of "I Just Wanna Have Sex With You" playing outside Shangri-La, sauntered in, and never looked back.

This Thursday Casxio is having a show for their native Angelinos - lucky bastards - and here is their promo video. It's a teensy bit NSFW.


Thoughts?

I kind of want to make an Austin version with Leslie stripping. How awesome would that be.

Happy Monday GIVEAWAY: Peacock Plume!

Howdy do, Austin!

Well, plenty to report from this weekend: From one of the coolest art shows I've ever attended, to seeing a stranger's bare man parts in the most unusual of places. Which I certainly hope is an intriguing sentence.

Anyway, I'll try to finish that story up for tomorrow, but today, we have a tasty treat for the ladies.  Peacock Plume is a newly-launched Anthropologie-meets-Strut online boutique by two Austin women, Cara Morgan and Holly Hargrove. Several months ago, the two embarked on a mission to create a clothing shop for the stylish, frugal dame, with pieces well within the starving artist's (or starving college student's) budget. The solution? Eschew the overhead of a storefront, and open a boutique online. Every item they sell is under $70, with most items - dresses, jewelry, etc. - below $40.

Today they have stopped by Austin Eavesdropper to introduce themselves, so say hello to Cara and Holly! Also, Peacock Plume is graciously giving away one item - anything you want - from Peacock Plume to one lucky Eavesdropper reader.

Check out the interview below, as well as a few of my favorite pieces from the site, then follow the instructions at the bottom to enter. I'll select a winner (at random) by Thursday at noon.

Welcome to Austin Eavesdropper, Cara and Holly! Tell us a little bit about Peacock Plume.

Peacock Plume is an online boutique specializing in affordable women's clothing and accessories. We just launched our site and want everyone to stop by: www.peacockplume.com.

What are your backgrounds, and how did you guys get the idea to start this store together?

Cara is a chemical engineer and Holly, an interior designer. We have been friends since high school and have always shared a love of fashion and shopping. We have been told numerous times that we have an eye for what women want, and a knack for putting together unique outfits others wouldn't think of. This lead to our vision of having a boutique where styling was a big component - not just selling pretty clothing. We wanted to help others put together amazing outfits that won't break the bank.

What's the "style" of the clothes here? Meaning, what kind of gal would like shopping at Peacock Plume?

I think our clothes lean a little towards the girly and romantic, but we definitely pieces on our site diverse enough to please almost any style.

How would you describe your own styles?

Our styles are slightly different... Cara is more classic and romantic while Holly tends to be a little more eclectic. We have fun with what we wear, and we don't take ourselves too seriously or really care what others think! We can honestly say that our style depends on the day and our attitude. Both of us are perfectly comfortable going from a classic dress and heels, to romantic floral sun dresses, to tribal-inspired jewelry or funky layered pieces. Fashion is about expressing yourself and having fun doing so!

Thanks so much for stopping by Austin Eavesdropper! Any parting words for our lovely readers?

Thanks for taking a moment to read about Peacock Plume, we hope you'll visit the site soon!

to enter the giveaway:

-Leave a comment
-Leave your email address
-Tell us your favorite item in your closet. Can be a garment or piece of jewelry.  Mine? Currently, I've been donning a big, ridiculously blingy gold chain necklace, with a huge scorpion pendant hanging from it. It's from Blue Velvet. I can't tell whether it's fashion-forward...or comical. Which is why I adore it so.

good luck!

"It's just like a mini-mall!"

I've tried and I've tried to resist. But I just don't think I can let another second go by without sharing this awesome video with you:


Don't you wish this mini-mall - er, flea market! - were in Austin, not Montgomery?

Hey hey! You heard me! Come shop.

WINNER for 5 x 7 Art Social tonight.

First off: Is this not the most attractive poster art, ever?

Secondly: I believe the "tell us a secret, win tickets" post from last Monday might be my favorite blog post, ever. People spilled some fascinating bits.  I now know more about my fellow Austinites, and their Justin Bieber-listening / anonymous sex-having / presidential election-voting / shop-lifting / Gypsy routine tap-dancing habits than I ever did before. In fact, I'm considering starting a whole new blog called: "The Secrets of Austin." Kind of like Post Secret, but cutting out the middle man - i.e., the United States Postal Service.

Anyway! Would you like to know who the winner of our little contest is? It is Jessica, who revealed that...

"I spent all day (over 12 hours) watching the big bang theory. its true."

Congratulations, Jessica!

While Jessica's entry was selected at random, I liked it because this is something Ross and I might do, too. Actually, Ross would start said Big Bang Theory program, I would get distracted and start reading a Real Housewives of New York blog, then a few hours would pass and the differences in our brains would be startingly clear.  Quantum physics coming out his mouth, thoughts on Luann's questionable taste in men coming out of mine.

happy friday, everyone!

I'm not sure if you knew this, but I'm a professional photographer.

Would you like to see my wedding portfolio?

SO, Ross got me a Holga for Christmas, and I've been using it like crazy. Last week, I got three rolls of film developed, but upon opening my package, I made a startling discovery.

Apparently, in between taking the pictures and dropping off my rolls at Precision, I seem to have spilled water (acid?) all over the film.

Harumph. If you know me in real life, you already know how abundantly typical little accidents like these are. I'm not sure when I did this, but probably, it was a time when I didn't have Ross around to make sure I didn't screw anything up. Like last Sunday when I was making kombucha tea, and he entered the kitchen just as I accidentally killed the "mother" - the huge culture you use to make kombucha, which resembles a human organ.  I was inadvertently boiling it ... which apparently ... you aren't supposed to do.

As Ross sagely reminded me, you can't grow things if you kill them first.

(Also? I killed this "mother" on MOTHER'S DAY! The irony. Fortunately, I had a back-up. Culture. Not actual mother.)

But anyway, with the pictures, it's all good! Because a tiny few did come out. Also, I ordered a Diana Camera with instant-picture capacities last weekend, and am so excited to use it. Mostly because it's foolproof.

This is our dear friend Thiago, with another little friend of ours, Janna. How sweet are those faces?

Random van in coffee shop parking lot.

Moi!