Blogshop Austin

Now that I'm out of college, its seems more difficult to find opportunities (and time) to continue to learn new skills. For the last two years I've wanted to build up my design chops starting with Adobe Photoshop. So when I heard that Blogshop was coming to Austin last December, I decided to take the leap and sign up for it.

Blogshop is a two-day Photoshop bootcamp for bloggers and content creators. Los Angeles-based Bri Emery and Angela Kohler started the workshop in 2011 and have traveled as far as Sydney and Berlin to host these classes, which seem to sell out as soon as they're announced.

My experience at Blogshop was great! As someone who had hadn't even opened Photoshop before the class, I now feel comfortable navigating the program and using shortcuts to create shapes and images that used to take me hours to do. My classmates included photographers, small business owners and bloggers from all over the map, and the classroom was the prettiest one I'd ever seen with rustic flower arrangements, mismatched chairs and sweet little succulents. All these details created an inspiring environment to learn and dream up ideas. I left Austin that weekend feeling both exhausted by the amount of new things I learned and renewed by the inspiring environment and creative women that surrounded me.

If you're serious about taking your blog to the next level, I highly recommend Blogshop. Click here to see if Bri and Angela are coming to your city. And if they're not, you can now sign up for an online version and learn from the comfort of your home. See more of the pretty little details of Blogshop ATX including the goodies we received on the Blogshop Blog.

{Images 3, 5, 6 taken by the Blogshop girls}

An inspiring quote for the budding creatives:

“Nobody tells this to people who are beginners, I wish someone told me. All of us who do creative work, we get into it because we have good taste. But there is this gap. For the first couple years you make stuff, it’s just not that good. It’s trying to be good, it has potential, but it’s not. But your taste, the thing that got you into the game, is still killer. And your taste is why your work disappoints you. A lot of people never get past this phase, they quit. Most people I know who do interesting, creative work went through years of this. We know our work doesn’t have this special thing that we want it to have. We all go through this. And if you are just starting out or you are still in this phase, you gotta know its normal and the most important thing you can do is do a lot of work. Put yourself on a deadline so that every week you will finish one story. It is only by going through a volume of work that you will close that gap, and your work will be as good as your ambitions. And I took longer to figure out how to do this than anyone I’ve ever met. It’s gonna take awhile. It’s normal to take awhile. You’ve just gotta fight your way through.” -Ira Glass

Vintage Shopping in Austin

Austin, Texas is one of my favorite cities in the US, and every time I visit, I try to spend some time shopping in one of the many vintage boutiques. Why buy vintage? A lot of people don't understand it, claiming that vintage is just a fancy word for old. There are a several reasons I enjoy shopping at thrift, resale, & vintage stores: 1) It's sustainable. 2) Fashion is cyclical. Yesterday's fads are tomorrow's trends. 3) It's an easy way to add an individual touch to your wardrobe. Wearing unique, recycled pieces means you're not going to be caught wearing the same outfit as your best friend, coworker, or professor. 4) It allows me to be creative. Strolling through a vintage shop turns the wheels in my imagination, trying to envision how an outdated dress could be styled for modern wearing.  With that said, here are a few of my favorite vintage stores in Austin:

Prototype Vintage Design

1700 1/2 S. Congress Ave. (entrance on Milton St.)

Prototype is my favorite vintage spot in Austin. It's well-organized and has a killer t-shirt selection as well as a few pieces of retro furniture and decor. The owners tend to select pieces that are well-suited for modern style and their prices are reasonable. Don't miss this one!

I picked up this acid wash button down and square scarf from Prototype.

Feathers

1700-B S. Congress Ave.

Right next door to Prototype and well-worth a stop, Feathers has amazing vintage pieces that are worthy of a New York boutique. The prices tend to be a little higher but aren't outrageous when you consider that many of the clothes are designer label. The store has a great aesthetic and I always feel inspired after browsing the collection of dresses, handbags, shoes, and jewelry.

Uncommon Objects

1512 S. Congress Ave.

A SoCo classic which everybody should experience as least once, Uncommon Objects is a treasure trove of antiques, furniture, vintage maps, salvaged jewelry, and trinkets. It's like rummaging through your grandma's attic, but so much better!

Off the Wall

1704 S Congress Ave.

Off the Wall has an awesome selection of furniture, antiques, and collectibles as well as vintage cowboy boots and handbags. The owners are friendly and knowledgeable, and it's easy to lose track of time as you sift through the many shelves of curiosities and odds and ends.

New Bohemia

1606 S. Congress Ave.

With styles from the 40s to the 90s, New Bohemia maintains a rotating collection of vintage frocks, boots, handbags, and jewelry. Browse the sale rack outside and admire the glittery store sign.

Cream Vintage

2532 Guadalupe St.

With over ten years of experience, multiple locations, and more than 15,000 vintage pieces in stock, Cream  knows what's up. Their location on the Drag at UT has sale bins for rummaging and they offer in-store alterations.

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Consider this a beginner's guide to vintage shopping in Austin. The list is short, but it's concentrated in two areas and easy to do in one afternoon. I hope to improve it in the future, adding new stores and photos. Did I miss your favorite shop? Where should I go on my next trip to Austin?

Labor Day Weekend

I spent my labor day weekend in Austin, catching up with some of my study abroad friends that I had not seen in a year. It was refreshing to see familiar faces and recount memorable stories of our summer in the Mediterranean. We spent the afternoon shopping and dining along South Congress and went out in the evenings to experience the Austin nightlife.

the weekend kicked off with a heartbreaking football game
under the friday night lights of Waco, TX.

well worth the long wait on a Saturday afternoon

this restaurant has a good Mexican breakfast menu that won't break the bank

unusual drinks: raspberry mint tea martini & avocado margarita

Ayesha, Bonnie, Me & Landry

After our mini SAS reunion, Bonnie & I headed to Lake Travis to soak up the sun with my roommate at her lake house. As we were driving toward Spicewood, I said, "I'm surprised there haven't been more wildfires out in the Hill Country like in East Texas. It's so dry here. It would be horrible on a day like this, with all the wind." It couldn't have been more than ten minutes later that we reached the top of a hill and spotted a steady chain of grey smoke building up in the cloudless blue sky.

We enjoyed a few blissful hours at the lake house, laying out in the sun by the pool. And then our weekend took an unexpected turn when the power went out and we were forced to evacuate. As we all took the long route out of town in a caravan of vehicles, we passed the wildfire which had made its way right up to the main road, only a couple of miles from the house. We ended up spending our last night in Austin and going out on Sixth Street, which is not too bad for having just fled the scene of a wildfire. 

Austin skyline at night

Bonnie, Rebecca, Me, Brittany, & Lauren

our first glimpse of the wildfire as we were driving in

new water restrictions in Austin go into effect today

It's been nothing but hot & sunny since my return to TX
(in Fahrenheit and Celsius)

 news coverage on the fires 

It makes me sad to see Texas, the land that I love, burning from border to border. Driving back to Fort Worth, I noticed that the sky seemed a little less clear than normal, tainted by the smoke of thousands of acres burning--so much smoke that it is visible to the astronauts in space. Where there was once green pastures and crops is now as brown and dry as a Triscuit cracker. Lakes have been reduced to the size of rivers. Cattle have nothing to graze on. A home is being destroyed every four minutes. It seems ironic that I spent an entire three months in Germany resenting the constant rain from preventing me from enjoying a new country, and now it is the one thing that can save Texas from this natural disaster. Although the temperatures have dropped significantly, it does not look like there is precipitation in the forecast for the next week. I can only pray that God might send some of that Saarland rain down here. We certainly could use it.