Starry-eyed in the Lone Star State

My husband and I had our first get-away sans notre fille over Memorial Day weekend in Austin. I had eagerly awaited my chance to read with local contributors Amanda Eyre Ward and Dao Strom and to see our good friends Claire and Colin get hitched at the Salt Lick Pavilion in Driftwood. I found Austin a warm and inviting city. Our first night, we had dinner at Polvo's, took in the bat show at Congress Avenue Bridge with other lazy picnickers lounging on their blankets at dusk, and finally had drinks at Austin landmark, the Driskill Hotel. Then on Saturday, we had a late brunch (key word being late) at Starlite and went on a bit of a field trip to gigantic Terra Toys and Toy Joy to buy gifts for our girl. Dinner was at the mahvelously tasty Clay Pit followed by TMQ reading at BookPeople with Amanda Eyre Ward. Unfortunately, Dao Strom couldn't make the reading at the last minute. So Amanda read a few pages from her hilarious story and I read a few from Dao's essay. Grand huzzahs to Amanda for being such a trooper and agreeing to read only five days after she moved back to Austin from Cape Cod.



Claire and Colin's wedding was sublime. Their friends read original poetry they had created for the occasion and an e.e. cummings poem. Their recessional was Here Comes the Sun which was our wedding processional five years ago. (I liked the idea of playing Here Comes the Sun instead of Here Comes The Bride.) The pavilion was beautifully decorated with twinkly lights and bouquets of wildflowers in mason jars. Salt Lick BBQ was possibly the best I've ever eaten. We had a wedding scavenger hunt, listened to moving speeches, and were led through a zombie dance routine to Thriller! All and all, a glorious wedding.