Poshdeluxe

ok, before i go any further in this post, i have to point yr attention to this website. remember my compelling post (ages ago) about caffeinated chapstick? sure you do. anyway, now you can purchase caffeine STRIPS for yr tongue, which is EXTREEEME! seriously, this whole site is so EXTREME!! i’m gonna get my NRAGE on and then MOTORCROSS! sweet!

moving on

i’m sure you’re thinking, how can there STILL be more sxsw? well, that’s pretty much what i always wonder when i wake up on the fourth day of the festival and question my ability to continue rocking.

you know the perfect answer to that question? BRUNCH!

if you guessed mimosas, i’ll still give you credit, even though they are inherently part of brunch.

we headed to south congress cafe and, due to amber’s reservation prowess, snagged the corner booth!

gah i love corner booths. they make me feel like the cool kids at the malt shop. or members of the italian mafia. either one.

amber reveled in the carrot cake french toast (!!!!!) and even got her bacon extra crispy.

ok looking at that picture while i’m at work is severely unfair.

after our tasty business, we met up with jessica, ian and tim at the flatstock show, which is basically an awesome gathering of music poster artists. you can buy FANTASTIC art, like henri’s purchase for me last year, “bunnies on a donut.” actually, when i went back to that artist’s booth this year, i discovered that i’ve been using the wrong title. the conversation went like this:

me: hi! i love your work!

mike: thanks.

me: i’m so glad you’re here again! last year i got “bunnies on a donut” from you.

mike: actually, it’s just called “donut.”

me: well, i call it “bunnies on a donut.” cos there are bunnies. on a donut.

mike: ah.

me: bye!

anyway, this year i bought this poster from tiny media empire:

basically, that tiny teddy bear sold me. so if you’re an artist, and you want me as a customer, just make art featuring cute tiny animals or food, preferably baked goods, or both, together!. and i shall be yr patroness!

after exploring the show thoroughly, we headed back to our cars to drive to vivo for margaritas (!). on the way, henri ran into a t-shirt kindred spirit:

i… water tower… burger king? british knights? eh?

and no, we didn’t think of asking him what it actually means. cos i prefer life to have a little mystery.

it also happened to be st. patrick’s day, which meant we saw a lot of child bagpiper exploitation.

also, everyone had some sort of green on, which sucked. cos i didn’t get to dish out any pinches!

now, i may have mentioned vivo on this blog before, because it has the Best Margaritas in Austin, and possibly, the world. and possibly, the universe. sure, they’re a bit $$$, but one of these suckers is equal to at LEAST two margaritas, if not two and a half.

behold, the beauty:

i mean, this could be a freakin’ calendar photo! oh margaritas, you taunt me with yr bright colors and beautiful flowers and tasty, tasty tequila.

we grabbed a huge booth outside and basically experienced the best afternoon of the whole festival.

i know i’m cheesy, but doesn’t that picture just make you start humming the theme song from “the wonder years” or “cheers” or something? I LOVE YOU GUYS!

you can’t drink vivo ritas and not get silly. it’s just not scientifically possible.

we’re so wacky! we switched our sunglasses!

when jessica and tim drink at vivo, they just get freaking cuter.

matt, on the other hand, hangs tough.

j. and henri express their gross gross man love for each other.

SERIOUSLY GROSS!!! i CANNOT believe this happened right behind me. GROSS.

the highlight of our afternoon (besides the margaritas, obvs) was our super waitress, delaney, who told us about how her mom wanted to party with her on st. patrick’s day and she was all, “m-o-o-o-o-m!” here’s delaney, lookin’ like a sweet little sunbeam!

amber pointed out that this picture bears a striking resemblance to one from NYE.

for the sake of pure accuracy, i’m posting it here:

as the afternoon drew to a close, we decided to head back downtown. i stuffed tim in the back of thomas (my car), cos he is tiny.

hee hee!

amber was WIDE AWAKE AND READY FOR ACTION!

after parking, we headed straight for the human giant comedy showcase (and scarfed down some street hot dogs for good measure). when i saw the sign on the door announcing that patton oswalt would NOT be performing, i felt crushed into itty bitty pieces. it’s not sxsw without a little patton!

patton oswalt: steak

but we went inside anyway and immediately got crammed into the crowd. fyi: “friends” bar isn’t just a fun, funky place for 20-somethings, it’s also a FANTASTIC VENUE with a tiny stage that only half of the audience can actually see. YAY! i’ll be there for YOU!

i caught a few pretty good jokes and some clips from the show before i decided that amber (who was sitting sort of under the bar) and i should head over to la zona rosa to catch one of my recent favorite bands, mew. it was also the perfect time for my london pants to experience an austin tradition– the pedicab ride! wheeee!

thankfully, we walked right in to LZR right before my favorite song, 156, came on.

mew: am i wry? no.

(sorry, 156 isn't working on my blog for some reason. but this song is like, my second favorite)

GAH this show REIGNED OVER ME. the music soared around us as amber and i danced and jumped and even sorta squealed (well, at least, i did).

you know what else reigned over me? this guy.

dumb stupid tall guy! boooo! i asked him v. politely if he could move over a bit, but then he pointed to a (shorter) guy in front of him and said, “this guy’s tall too.”

??????

after this brutal rebuff, i simply employed my “Active Dancing With Elbows” technique to make a little viewing room for myself. holla!

when the rock bliss ended (le sigh), we met back up with henri, j., caitlin and josh d. at, where else, mugshots!

i think these are our “WE JUST TOTALLY ROCKED OUT!” faces.

and these are our “hey! we’re in a photobooth!” faces.

cos of course you have to make yr own mugshot at mugshots. it’s just, the rule.

plus these picture sort of make me feel like we’re in “beaches” for some reason. except neither of us is dying of cancer, as far as we know. which is cool. but amber is still TOTALLY the wind beneath my wings.

even though josh. d heard that junior senior was only doing a dj set, amber and i decided to try our luck (and btw, my sxsw luck is pretty dang hot). as a bonus, we got to see the prototypes, too!

the prototypes: je ne te connais pas

she was so french. and thus able to completely pull off this outfit.

it was a great set, although amber probably had a deeper sense of what the songs were actually about. plus, we were in the front, directly against the stage.

thus, i was able to see the junior senior setlist:

YESSSSSSS!

amy showed up and promptly took a nap on top of the monitor.

this is a phenomenon known as, “i think sxsw just killed me.”

FINALLY junior senior took to the stage, and yes, it was the full band (luck of the irish, yo!).

junior senior: can i get get get

dude i totally c-c-c-couldn’t control my FEET!

junior senior is one of the most dancestastic bands of all time, i swear. the only problem is that the crowd got a little TOO cray and started pressing up against us poor fools in the front. here are some of my suffering neighbors (canna i get get get to know know know you better better baby, a little TOO much):

amber eventually left after being pushed and poked one too many times. and even though i was incredibly sweaty and substantially bruised, I COULDN’T TURN AWAY. esp. when jd samson (from le tigre!!!!!) came on stage for a song.

THIS is how you end sxsw. not with a bang, but with a DANCE PARTY!

RECOVERY

sunday is all about recuperation. which, if you’re a quick learner, you’ll know means BRUNCH!

we hit up la taverna, which features $5 bottomless mimosas (shh!! don’t tell anyone else!!) and breakfast calzones AS BIG AS MY FACE!

henri, j., amber and i walked off our meal with a little jaunt down south congress and a pit stop at the san jose hotel.

passionfruit juice and champers = breakfast of passionate champions!

ha ha i’m hilarious.

here’s henri and j., making fun of us.

awwww. it’s like a male version of “beaches”! well, at least, from a distance (seriously, i am awesome).

we got our nature on with a visit to the dog park. here’s amber, striking her calendar pose and wearing her lucky red shoes:

j. and henri reminisced about a rope swing that used to be on this tree:

even though time passes and trees die and break off and fall into the water, their friendship remains. le sigh!

with fresh air in our lungs, we journeyed to vino vino for some wine tasting (sensing a trend?). here’s amber, totally in her element:

so… how do you spend your good friend’s last evening in town? by going to uchi, obvs.

uchi is one of the few places where i RELISH waiting an hour (or more) for my table. cos we get to sit on the patio and drink sake! from cute little cups!

our meal was delicious (as expected), and we actually made it to dessert, which we NEVER do.

here’s to sweet, sweet endings.

i love you sxsw! i’ll see you next year! have a nice summer!