While I was in Texas I had the luck to get to visit Austin for a day and spend some time with some GREAT folks. Meg, my upline, and I were welcomed with open arms by her parents Charlotte and Tom at the Airport and they promised me some "experiences" in Austin and they weren't kidding! In case you don't know the saying in Austin, TX is "Keep Austin Weird!" They took us right from the Airport to a BBQ joint called Rudy's where you get to eat scrumptious BBQ right on Butcher paper (my husband would have LOVED this being a butcher and all). There was Brisket and Smoked Turkey and Sausages oh my! A meat lovers paradise. Here I am drooling at the counter with Meg's dad Tom. My excuse for my look is a long day flying without eating all day. This picture was probably taken at about 9pm.
Here is the food because you have to see the food!
The next day they told me they were taking me to a grocery store for lunch. I was like...what? Austin is the Corporate Headquarters for Whole Foods. While I didn't feel comfortable snapping pictures in the actual grocery store I had to show you the way you get down to the 3 floors of underground parking with your cart. This is M.E. being silly with Charlotte in front of me. As soon as you touch the cart onto the escalator the wheels lock in place and can't be moved. It's a very cool system!
Oh about lunch, well they will cook you anything you want! The store is huge and full of delicious goodies. We had crab butternut squash bisque and fish tacos! All fresh to order! The cart is full of snackies and other goodies for our trip to San Antonio because after lunch we were headed that way.
While we were in Austin Charlotte took us to visit one of her neighbors. They had a beautiful home filled with Mexican art. Our hostess, Polly, still had her collection of nativity scenes up from Christmas and the tour probably took a couple hours she had so many and they were absolutely gorgeous and I didn't want to miss anything. Some dated back from the 60's when Polly first started to collect. She also had a big corner in one of her rooms full of 'Day of the Dead' artwork. Everything was so colorful and delightful. She really had an eye on putting together different vignettes. Very eclectic but it all worked. Before we left she presented each of us with a little "souvenier" of our day. A 'Day of the Dead' skeleton ornament all hand woven. So detailed. So I made something to send to her today . A quick card that I think captures the mexican feel with many of the bright colors I experienced in her home.
I saw this similar idea sometime while I was in San Antonio but I made this card from my memory and I do not know who to give credit to for the original idea. (as always if it was yours drop me a line I would love to give you credit) It was just one of those ideas that stuck with me! I earned the "packed for" bundle of stamps from Stampin' Up! for FREE!! You can view the full set in the Occasions mini catalog by clicking on that link above or my signature below. Here is a close up of the image. I cut it from the whole group of images. A great way to use this stamp set.