Soco and Swap Outfit Photo Experiment

Corey and I went to Hopdoddy Burger Bar on South Congress for lunch today. Corey got the Llano Poblano burger--beef, pepper jack, poblano chilis and applewood smoked bacon. His opinion was that the ingredients were high quality but that the burger itself was a little bland. However, the clerk did tell him that the peppers were really mild this time of year. I had the Ahi Tuna burger--sushi-grade tuni, teriyaki, sprouts, honey wasabi, nori chips and pickled ginger. It was anything but bland. I mean seriously--wow! Flavor explosion. And texture too--the nori chips gave it some crunch. I am big on texture in my food. A couple times I got a big dollop of wasabi that had me rushing for the iced tea. But it was sooooo good. And they certainly don't skimp on the meat.

I snapped this photo out the window. I thought it was interesting. I like how the window panes break it up. Tell me what you think. The first photo is original with no editing. On the second I messed with the curves. Which is better? Does it even matter? Am I have delusions of grandeur and the photo is actually boring?

SXSW crowd at Guero's. I love that a float/art car was driving by when I took the shot.

It's SXSW week and Guero's next door was having some kind of a craft fair/showcase. Lots of people. Good for people watching. Bad for parking.

And finally, here is my next experiment at taking my own outfit photo. I took this one indoors. When I look at it full sized its grainy. This doesn't happen when I take other photos with my camera--just when I take them of me. I must be distracting the focus somehow. ;)

Dress: Swapped (Liberty for Target)
Bolero: Anthropologie (Lux)
Boots: Nine West
Belt: Banana Republic
Earrings: Banana Republic
Compression bandage: Ace

The dress I am wearing is from the TXSC's clothing swap. I saw it being hung on the rack during the set up, so when the doors opened, I beelined for it. I originally put it on with pink wedge sandals but it made the outfit look too girly. I don't do girly. The boots make it a bit edgier, I think. Besides, I didn't have to shave my legs. And yes, I am still wearing that sexy Ace bandage. Stupid knee!

Outfit of the day Photo Fail

At the Texas Style Council Conference I went to a session titled Blogging 101. Essentially the trick is to have good content, which means good writing and good photos. I also went to a photography session because, well...I am a sucky photographer. Trying to take what I learned from the session and from a great series of posts on Little Girl Big Closet, I set out to chronicle my outfit this morning. There is nothing noteworthy about the outfit, unless you count the oh-so-sexy Ace bandage on my right knee. I fell down go boom. First at the track then playing paintball. The cushion below my kneecap is inflamed. That sounds so much cooler than saying I have bursitis. Bursitis sounds like an old lady disease.

Blouse by Banana Republic
Skirt by me (Burda pattern 8155)
Boots by Nine West
Compression bandage on knee by Ace
Necklace: schwag from the TSCC
Why bother listing the earrings? You can't see them.

Anyhow, I just wanted the practice taking photos of myself. It was pretty misty and the photos came out without any kind of detail or definition. I guess it's true that I really need to get a tripod and a remote (and a better location or some sun, etc., etc.) There is not much sense in chronicling an outfit if you can't see the details.

Putting the camera on timer and then running to get in the frame made Roni think we were playing a game. Notice the dog butt in this photo. The camera clicked before she shoved the dirty soccer ball in her mouth into my legs.

So the first attempt was a fail. It can only get better from here, right? At least the pose isn't terribly unflattering.

Friday Night Outing

 

Friday night before the Texas Style Council Clothing Swap, Corey and I went out to dinner at Parkside,  a new restaurant on 6th Street (at San Jac). It had come recommended, although I can't remember by whom. The design is warm with exposed brick and a painted tin ceiling. It has an open air patio on the rooftop, but we ate inside. It's known for it's raw bar, which did not disappoint. Corey had the burger which came with herbed fries with clarified garlic butter. I had the fried oyster "blt" appetizer and the ceviche from the raw bar menu. I forgot to take a photo of the ceviche before I dug it and made the dish all messy.

Parkside did not disappoint. The flavors were simple, subtle but carefully blended. Everything we had was very, very good. I look forward to coming back soon and trying something else. 

After the Swap, we went for dessert and drinks at Sullivan's. Because SXSW had just begun there was a solar-powered carousel (Carousolar by GE) in the formerly vacant lot across the street. The SX crowds hadn't arrived yet so there were very few people in line. I'm a sucker for carousels, so we went over and rode it. 

Texas Style Council: Clothing Swap

Friday night was the clothing swap hosted by Swap.com and the Swapaholics. I've heard of these but never participated before. Clothing drop off was between 7 and 8, then they opened the doors at 8:30. I got there at 7:15 and there was already a line of ladies who had dropped off their clothes and were now waiting for the fun to begin. I decided to join the line. Later on, I learned that was unusual. Usually swappers don't wait in line, they just come back at the designated time. However a photographer told us that at an event in Boston, everything had been cleared out within 15 minutes--and it was four times the size of the Austin event. That bit of info made me paranoid it was going to be a smash and grab with fighting and hair pulling.

I am happy to report that it wasn't. Everyone was very calm and nice--looking at the size of an item, then moving on and making room for others to look.

I think I made out like a bandit. Here are the pieces I came home with:

The skirt is from Liberty of London for Target. You know how I love peacocks!

Super cute with puffy sleeves.

Red sweater dress. Meow!

This still has the store tags (from Forever 21).

I am a sucker for red and blue plaid. This will look great with my red cowboy boots!

Cute romper. Another gem from Target.

And finally, the piece de resistance:

I die! Gold! I can see this with a black tank underneath, black belt and either black strappy flat sandals or boots.

 I think the gold dress was the best piece at the whole swap! It fits me perfectly. It was brought to the swap by Jessie of The Concrete Catwalk. Thank you Jessie!

Texas Style Council: Holy Schwag!

This weekend was the Texas Style Council Conference. Network. Learn. Blog.

The conference was organized by Indiana of Adored Austin and Grechen of Grechen's Closet. Let me just say, holy shwag! Obviously, I was impressed. The sponsors these ladies garnered for the conference were unbelievable! Especially when you consider this was just the second annual. Take a look at the schwag that came with registration.

The badge "lanyard" was an adorable charm necklace.

Other goodies included:

A Tikkr watch;

 

A shirt from Striped Shirt. Mine came in Rhinestone Cowgirl colors. Serendipitous, no?;

An adorable cupcake necklace from Strut;

A super cute hair pin from LaLa. I love the colors!

Animal print socks, sparkly lip gloss and aviator sunglasses from Wanted. They came in a translucent hot pink plastic tote;

A tote from wikifashion. The illustration is amazing. I wonder who the artist is.

A free yard of fabric from Burdastyle;
A magnetic photo frame from Nathan Russell Photography;
A hot pink coozy from pink kisses.com (moving on is the best revenge). They had a booth at a derby bout a few months back.  Their coozy will be another weapon, along with the pride rainbow one Corey likes to make our (straight) male guests use;

And a ton of discount cards from:
Archives Vintage;
81 Poppies;
The Spice Rack vintage clothing and accessories;
savannared curvy couture;
Langford Market (on 2nd Street);
rae cosmetics;
Modcloth (woot!);
Moonshine Hill vintage clothing and accessories;
Two Months Rent jewelry;
The Unique Closet;
DuO (on 2nd Street)

I know I am going to lose several hours checking out all these stores and sites. There looks to be a lot of great stuff here!

Next up: Texas Style Council: Clothing Swap