Nod Your Head like a Yes Man!

Performing in Mortified was the highlight of my life! Or at least my weekend. The crowd had amazing energy and they made reading my embarrassing childhood memories much less nerve-wracking. They have chapters all over the US, so tell your friends! The next chance to catch a show is coming up soon, on November 4th at Fun Fun Fun Fest on the Yellow stage. After that, get ready for an angst-filled after-valentine's day extravaganza on February 15th and 16th, once again at the 29th St. Ballroom. I'll give you more info as it becomes available!

ACL Live is going to be slammin' for Halloween this year with Soundsystem Fest, bringing you Dirty Vegas, Classixx, and other world class electronic artists and DJs along with amazing sensory....sensations! Doors will be at 7pm and tickets are still on sale. Straight from the website: "It's a gamechanger, so come prepared for the biggest, baddest, sickest mind-blowing party in all of Texas....probably in the entire country!" Tickets start at $49 but I have two free tickets with your name on it if you leave a comment with 1) How you heard about Say Yes Austin or 2) Like or share Say Yes Austin on Facebook and leave me a link in a comment, showing me you did so, and I will pick a winner at random. See you on the dance floor! 

Don't forget you can still check out the coolest haunted house downtown, Ecopocalypse before hitting 6th street for all your shenanigans. Open at 6pm until the line ends! 

One of my favorite local bands, Armadillo Road will be playing Halloween night at the infamous Broken Spoke. Check them out from 6-8pm, stay for the dance lesson, and stick around for the next band at 9pm! 

Well, now that Halloween is almost over, it's time to think about Christmas. And Sufjan Stevens is one step ahead of us with The Surfjohn Stevens Christmas Sing-A-Long Seasonal Affective Disorder Yuletide Disaster Pageant On Ice on December 1st. It's already sold out, which is incredible, but I'm keeping my eye on tickets on Craigslist! What do you have planned for this holiday season? I can't wait for my annual Christmas movie marathon. 

We saw BILL COSBY Sunday night at Bass Concert Hall and it was amazing, of course. And he was all decked out in UT gear. I will be checking out another sold-out show this weekend, Taking Back Sunday at Emo's. Holla at your girl if you'll be out and about! 

My friends are running their second annual Bloody Balloon Battle, that I unfortunately have to miss this year, but that you should definitely donate to and check out. Check out the pictures from last year here! This battle will happen on Sunday, November 4th, 11am! 

You probably remember me gushing about This American Live, an improv show based on none other than This American Life, that I participated in earlier this year. The show is so well-put together it's incredible. In addition to improvised scenes, there are interviews, video and audio clips, monologues, and more that are all based on the topic of the evening. It was so amazing and so popular, it's back! It starts again this Friday, November 2nd. Check it out at it's new location, the Institution Theater, Fridays at 8pm. You'll thank me later. 

Enjoy your Halloween holiday, stay safe, call a cab, and say yes! 

Yes > No

I spent the past few months in hibernation, and saying "yes" just once last month has led me on a roller coast of positive emotion that I am still riding! It sounds so silly sometimes, but simply saying yes has changed my life in so many ways. I have met incredible people, performed on stages in a variety of shows, tried food I used to gag at, discovered new music, moshed in dumpsters, and won the life lottery. I am so thankful to the people in my life that have taught me every day is a gift. (Hi Mom & Dad!)

Now, enough with this ooey-gooey show of emotion. Here are some things I have said yes to lately:

My first trip to the Austin Farmer's Market! I sampled cheap delicious coffee, fresh cheese, chocolate, and lemonade. The downtown market is open year round, rain or shine, from 9am to 1pm. My favorite part was this wonderful surprise: The Austin Mandolin Orchestra.

Oh Austin, who knew?

Then I rode shotgun in a convertible named the Hottiemobile!

I listened to some Garbage! (A show I wasn't sure I would enjoy wholeheartedly that of course blew my mind! Saying Yes at it's finest!)

Tried a new place, G'Raj Mahal Cafe, to quench my new found love for Indian food!

Tried Hoover's for the first time. Veggies galore! 

Spent almost all of Saturday in a movie theater watching 2.5 hours of monster cartoons, and then The Master!

Sorry for the crappy camera phone photos, my D90 should be back in working order soon!

G'Raj Mahal Cafe is one of the cutest, most romantic places I have seen in Austin. I really want to go back and try them again, because the food was almost tasty, but needed something extra. So, next time I'll try a different dish. The service also started out well but we eventually had to get up and find our waiter to get the check after waiting for him to come by for about fifteen minutes or so. I'll let you know how it is next time we step in. If you try it in the meantime, BYOB, bring your own dog, and let me know what you think! 

I don't think I got the full Hoover's experience, as I just got the 3 Veggie plate, but the veggies came in huge helpings and filled me up!

I'll be back with some info on events to get you in the comedy and holiday spirit!

Say Yes to gettin' spooked!

It's apparently about to be Halloween! Getting dressed up and drunk on 6th street is where it's usually at, but, we've got a better idea with this new haunted house idea!

Talented creeps from all over the U.S. have joined together to create a one-of-a-kind spooky experience for us Austin weirdos. Ecopocalypse takes on you an interactive choose your own adventure style journey through 15,000 square feet of a city that is facing the end of the world. I met some of the crew yesterday, and walking alone into a dark warehouse with boarded up windows, dead trees, and rattling cages was creepy enough on it's own. I can tell this place is going to be intense. David Karave of Ubu Roy is working special effects, and actors and set designers from all over have come to help scare the psychological skinny jeans right off ya.

To kick it all off, there will be an opening night gala, Dia de los Muertos, to benefit the Sustainable Food Center. The gala starts at 6pm on Thursday, October 18th, and will be held next door to the haunt at Pecan St. Cafe. Tickets get you in to witness a cutthroat Austin chef competition, food samples from ten different Austin restaurants, a silent auction, and of course, free swag!

The far from average haunted house, Ecopocalypse, will open on the 19th and runs until the 30th. Doors open at 5pm and they won't close until the line ends! Find it at the Coppertank Event Center which is at 5th and Trinity downtown.

If you make it out alive you get a sweet, tasty, bonus. Food and drink! Foodtopia will be taking over the lot next door with tons of yummy, sustainable trailer food, and a full bar to help you with those shaking hands and quickened heartbeats.

I can't really think of a better way to start out the Halloween season. Get your tickets here. Keep a crazy eye on the deal sites, like this one, where you can get discounted tickets to the Ecopocalypse Haunted House in Austin!

Say Yes to Slam, man.

Oh blog world, how easy you are.....to abandon! Damn all these real life responsibilities! So, I went to Hawaii, yada yada yada, the snorkeling was great! I haven’t been going out as much because that trip was suuuper expensive, but totally worth it. You should go to there. But I am back to tell you about my new obsession: Slam Poetry.

I’ve always been a poet (wouldn’t ya know it), but for some reason never thought to do anything with my work besides fill up endless journals and stick them in a crate, though I did win the Books Arts Bash poetry contest in 2008. So, it’s been a while!

A couple months ago I volunteered my photography services for VaRiEtY Showcase Showdown, and walked in to Kevin W. Burke performing his poems. I was immediately blown away and completely inspired. Jacob Dodson also rocked the house with his clever and comical mind. I talked to them after the show and they told me about Austin Poetry Slam, happening every Tuesday night at 8pm at 29th St. Ballroom (Spiderhouse).

Slam is a little different than your typical open mic night as judges are selected from the audience to score the poems. Poets have three minutes to perform and those with the highest scores receive cash awards and high fives. The place gets packed, so if you want a good seat or want to perform, get there early to sign up or save a spot. 29th St. has a full bar, and the Love Balls Bus serves....balls. And other things. But mostly balls. Plus they’ve got a super sweet 8-track collection that you can choose from and play around with while you wait.

So, I went to see a slam and I was sucked up into the scene within seconds. How have I gone without it for so long? I laughed, I cried, I snapped my fingers,  I scribbled ideas down. I felt like it was the perfect outlet for my writing and my desire to perform without much of a commitment to rehearse and deal with scheduling conflicts. Soon after, I awoke in the middle of the night and wrote a poem that had been begging to be written for a long, long time.

A few weeks ago I did my first open mic at House of Commons, which happens Wednesday nights at 8pm. You have to see this place. It’s a co-op on campus and totally Austin. The living room is full of couches and kitchen chairs, dogs are roaming free, shirtless students are running up and down the stairs doing laundry, people are drinking straight from the wine bottle, and the DJ is spinning ambient music through his laptop. Anyone can sign up and poets are picked to perform in a random order for each round.

Last week I did my first slam, which actually took place at Sky Candy because the Ballroom was booked for a private party. Sky Candy came up with this cool idea to combine aerial and circus arts with spoken word. Poets and artists were paired together at random and then given 30 minutes to rehearse together. The outcome was outstanding. I didn’t see a lot of the show because I was pacing around in the back room trying not to throw up from nervousness, haha! I performed, and nobody died. I even scored three 9.0s! PS: That totally rhymes. The show received great feedback, so I’m pretty sure we’ll be seeing this type of thing again. Come out and see me sometime! Or just check out my Youtube channel.

If you dig it, you can also catch me at Mortified next weekend on the 19th and 20th. The show is at 8pm at Spiderhouse (so, I pretty much live there...). The show will feature lots of lovely ladies reading real excerpts from angsty teenage journals. Check out the FB page for more info.

Ubu Roy this weekend!

Tonight and tomorrow night are the last two nights to check out Ubu Roy. It's absurd and vulgar (it opens with the main characters having sex against a tree), and yet is full of random playfulness and interesting characters (and possibly a live chicken). The scenes are quick and quirky, which gives you time to process and whisper "what the hell...." to yourself. The experience alone is worth it, as you wander back into the woods of East Austin, sip on homemade sangria, pet the neighborhood dog, watch a chair zipline towards you, and see theater happen before you on a homemade stage in the middle of nowhere. Tickets are $15, bring cash for sangria, and sit in the middle or to the left because you can't see anything from the seats on the right. Playing until the 21st. This is what Austin is all about.

Super Say Yes Birthday Extravaganza!

Happy July! My birthday was an amazing array of friends, entertainment, great food, delicious drinks, surprises, and more!

We started out with lunch at my favorite sushi place downtown, Silhouette. We devoured about ten rolls, and they were all fantastic. My favorites are still the Shanghai Roll, a roll with snow crab that is baked in the oven, and the Hamtaro Roll, which is topped with fresh strawberries. We left there pretty stuffed. My lunch and my boys:

I headed back south to claim all my free birthday goodies, starting with a free car wash at Genie Car Wash:

Then over to Amy’s Ice cream for a free ice cream!

I tried the malted vanilla with junior mints. It was perfect. My friend who is a cake decorator there has also informed me that they make cakes! Those have got to be good.

I wandered up South Congress until I found a .50 cent sale at St. Vincent de Paul. Also, it looks like Rusty’s Swimwear dropped off a truckload of bathing suits, and they are all $3! You definitely have to search through to find matching pieces, but.....$3! 

I walked over to Vulcan Video to take advantage of my free birthday rental, where I ended up renting 4 movies because it was 2-for-1-Tuesday.

I also ran into my friend from work, who talked me into birthday margaritas. Guero’s was next door, so that’s where we went!

I was hoping to get home in time for a birthday nap, but I had to get to Trudy’s for my free Mexican martini! The gang was all there! 

We ate, drank, laughed, chanted, and sang. Beautiful moments!

After dinner and drinks we moved over to 29th St. Ballroom for some slam poetry. We ended up just sitting outside on the patio and checking out the Love Balls Bus. 

My friend was eyeing Toy Joy from across the street, so, all 10 of us held hands in a line, elementary school style on our trek to the store. We found a couple from Portland who joined our hand train to explore with us! Toy Joy heard it was my birthday so I got to rummage through their Birthday Box! 

A few of us had tickets to Terror Tuesday, so we headed downtown to the Ritz see Uncle Sam! It was pretty epic and hilarious. It was the end of my non-vegan scarf-it-down fest, so I ate an entire pizza and a basket of queso fries. I sort of regretted it later, but Drafthouse food is my weakness!

Last stop of the night was Barbarella for Tuesgayz. I’ve been here a few times now, and I just can’t make myself like it. I’m definitely past the point in my life where I want to be in loud, sweaty clubs every night (I mean, come on, I am 26 now, haha!), but when I do, I don’t want to wait in line AND pay a cover AND have to wait 30 minutes for a drink at the bar. The place is connected to Swan Dive, which is always empty except for the huge line at the bar. The combination of clubs is confusing, and it’s really easy to lose a friend in the crowd, as there is an upstairs, another upstairs, an outside bar, etc. The music and dancing is been great, but the ceiling has leaked and dripped on me every time, and it’s gross.

So, I headed home and face planted in bed, thoroughly satisfied with my amazing day!

Sundae Sunday Sundae!

What a weekend I had! Saturday night, I took photographs for a new recurring event called Variety Showcase Showdown. It was downtown at Club 606, a fairly new bar that is attached to Lipstick 24, where Creekside Lounge used to be. They are both small, intimate bars with a great outdoor patio and tons of awesome graffiti (I’m writing a book on graffiti, so if you know of any cool spots...holla!). The event is a Smörgåsbord of music, comedy, slam poetry, and entertainment. The video of the entire show should be up shortly, and after the events you are able to vote for your favorite acts so they can play again at a future date. Donations are accepted for the Groundwork Music Project. Follow the Facebook page for more information on when and where to be for the next show!

After a few hours of sleep I headed to work, and started a pre-birthday adventure immediately after clockin’ out. My friend has been trying to get me to try Indian food for the longest time and I’ve been hesitant because I don’t like spicy food. But, what better time to Say Yes, right? We headed over to Tarka Indian Kitchen on Brodie. I stuck to the vegan options and everything was great! We started with the Madras soup that was so creamy and delicious, I couldn’t believe it was vegan. I didn’t mind gulping down the whole bowl in the middle of this Texas heat. So. Good. I can see myself dropping by this place in the winter and stocking up. My friend had the Tikki Masala (with chicken). The sauce was so tasty! My entree was Aloo Ghobi, made with cauliflower, potatoes and spices. Everything was flavorful, vegan, and not spicy at all! I’m a fan.

Doc’s Backyard was right next door, so we grabbed a table on the patio for some after dinner beverages. I was hesitant at first, because the Doc’s Motorworks location has AWFUL service. But the service at this location was much better. I stayed local and had some Deep Eddy sweet tea vodka and then moved on to the ever delicious Superfruit margarita. They also have a huge playground for the youngins, so bring your kids by and relax with a drink and watch the game.

For dessert, we kept with the vegan theme and tried Sweet Ritual for the first time. I've actually already had one of their espresso shakes, brought to me by a friend, and HOLY CAFFEINE BATMAN! If you need to pull an all-nighter or have a midterm due, just drink down one of these. So, I have been drooling over this place since it opened, and was ecstatic to finally try it. I already knew what I wanted, so I tried to not get distracted by the menu. I went with the new Hot Fuzz sundae, complete with vegan donut holes. My friend got the Peanut Butter Cup sundae, pictured below! I completely recommend this place to vegans and non-vegans alike. They. Have. Edible. Glitter. Yeah, I'll be back. PS: It's inside the Daily Juice at Duval/45th St!

I love Say Yes Sundays!