Welcome To Austin (we had to stay here)

 Well, ask and it is given. We asked to live in a unique community and we got it. We are now Austinites.

How? Our last farm gig was ending late November and instead of continuing west we decided to explore living in Austin.

Where? We landed a cute little place in the 78704 zip code--not an easy task! The move-in was historically quick since we don't have a lot of stuff. We bought a cushy air mattress and found a beautiful wood table and chairs waiting for us at the apartment dumpster!

Why Austin? There's a lot of answer to that question, and our discovery has only just begun-here's a bullet breakdown:

-the vibe: a mix of mellow-gritty-grassroots-guerilla-creative-hippiness rolled up into a warm and fuzzy ball of fun and freshness (folks, it does not feel like Texas)

-city motto: Keep Austin Weird! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keep_Austin_Weird  & http://www.keepaustinweird.com/

-the people: a lot of kindred spirits doing their thing in Austin

-local coffee shops:  so, so many AND most are open 24 hours

-live music: Austin is a music fest and concert hub-even grocery stores have live shows (what the what!?)

-co-op business models: lots of these going on--food, art, yoga, shops, all co-operatively run

-mobility: the city is pretty much walkable and bikeable

I'm writing songs again!

-night time yoga classes: 10:30pm classes through out the week at co-op run donation studio Black Swan

-mega music fest SXSW: we've heard this festival has changed up Austin--Coming March 2013!!!

-feedback from locals: everyone we've met has said that Austin is a great place to live...

-opportunities: we started volunteering with Urban Patchwork, a non-profit that grows food on neighborhood home lawns turned mini-farms. I landed two yoga gigs and have a few things I'm working on, and Crick is getting her hands dirtied up

I could go on tempting you with Austin's greatness but I should stop: there is a t-shirt I've seen around town:

Welcome To Austin, Please Don't Move Here

Crick builds us a bookcase

Farmers' market goodness all week!

Urban Patchwork volunteers 

I'll end with a quick story. On a downtown stroll yesterday we walked past a guy having a conversation on his cell. He exclaimed to what I hope was a sympathetic ear, "I really want to, but not sure how I can pull it off." Crick and I glanced and smiled at each other and she then hollered, "YOU CAN DO IT!   I KNOW THIS BECAUSE WE ARE LIVING IN AUSTIN!"

Here's to weirdness, loose plans, and trust ya'll! 

Love, 

~Deb