12-30-2013 Starting Three Months in Austin SoCo

After enjoying a nice Christmas with our families we headed south to escape the cold.  So, we actually made an appointment with Louis Divino of The Leaf Group to help us find an apartment in Austin.  We met him early in the morning the day before New Year's Eve.  He listened to what we wanted and our requirements (3 month lease at a reasonable price).  He took us to three great properties, but didn't rush us, and by that afternoon we had made a decision, signed the paperwork, and actually moved a few things into our new place!

We could have been a few miles away and had all kinds of amenities (gym, heated pool, washer/dryer in the apartment, etc.), or we could be in the heart of it all and have less amenities (drive/bike to my regular gym, un-heated pool, washer/dryer across the parking lot, etc.).  We went to location over luxury - no surprise there, I'm sure.  So, we are walking distance from SoCo and Downtown, which means we are also biking distance from tons of stuff in Austin.  Our building overlooks Lady Bird Lake, and you can pick up the greenway trail right outside.

This is what the greenway trail looks like where you pick it up outside our building.

Looking back you see our building overlooking the lake.

Cheers to life in Austin!

12-8-2013 Fountain Square Brewery

Fountain Square Brewery offers inexpensive growler fills on Sunday (5 bucks)  It is a nice place to hang out and they play good music and there is always something going on.

Today they built a christmas tree from 6 pack boxes.

12-6-2013 First Friday in Fountain Square

Various parts of Indianapolis participate in First Friday. So, on the first Friday of each month the businesses in these areas showcase local art, and galleries and artist studios open up to the public. This Sunday we chose to check out Fountain Square.

Our first stop was New Day Meadery, where we each bought a yummy hot mulled cider.

New Day Meadery has a nice back room that you can rent out for meetings, events, etc.

Nice local art is displayed in the back room also.

Our next stop was the Murphy Building.  We checked out every studio that was open (although we didn't make it in to see the movie at Heartland), we listened to a little music, then headed downstairs to get something to eat.  Pure Eatery had looked good to Cara, so we quickly found a seat at the bar.  We enjoyed a meal and drinks (see full review here), then headed out.  We popped into the Wheeler Arts Building, but everything was pretty much closed down there - we'll remember to get there earlier next time.  So, we ended the night at Fountain Square Brewing Co.  Cara found a pop-up shop from Athena's Fashion Boutique and made a purchase.  We both enjoyed the live music.

They had a band called The Hardees playing, and they were pretty good.