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Owner Rob Smith with popular board game, Small World
Sometimes when you’re looking for things to do in Austin, you want to find something a little more low-key. We recently discovered Great Hall Games on N. Lamar near 2222 (5501 N. Lamar Blvd.). It’s become our go-to spot to spend a couple of hours playing games together in a friendly, laid-back environment.
Great Hall Games keeps an active schedule, with planned activities six days of the week. Here’s the rundown: [Read more…]
Remember when we used to use pencil and string to try to draw the perfect circle? If we used that childhood method to draw a circle around Austin, with an hour-long drive as the radius, you’d be astonished by how much you’d find to do within that relatively small area.
For example, have you heard of Manor, TX? It’s located about 13 miles east of the I-35 exit for 290 (read: about half an hour from downtown Austin). Manor is one of those Texas towns that you can drive through without noticing, but it does have one thing going for it. If you turn off 290 and drive a few minutes closer to the middle of nowhere, you’ll find J. Lorraine Ghost Town, a semi-forsaken spot with a tantalizing history. [Read more…]
How long have you lived in Austin? I’d bet money that it’s less than two years. Maybe even less than a year.
Now, it could be that the odds are in my favor. People who have lived in Austin for more than two years are seasoned Austinites. They don’t need to read blogs to find things to do in Austin.
Or it could be that my initial hunch is right. True blooded, native born Austinites have all dissolved into thin air, displaced by the pressure of so many transplants. (Though I did live here as a young kid, and I did go to UT, I’m a transplant too. But that’s beside the point.) [Read more…]
Amanda Dimova in her local jewelry shop
Amanda Dimova liked to make things as a kid. While her friends aspired to be singing stars or ballerinas, she was inspired by the hands-on creativity that she saw in her parents.
As college students, Amanda’s parents started making homemade children’s shoes out of their apartment. They used scissors and hand-sewn needlework. Like other self-made Americans who we love to champion, they eventually expanded to a 20,000 square foot business in Brownwood, TX.
With a heritage like this, Amanda believed that she too could build a business from the ground up. Though her creative interests began with fashion design, she began making jewelry out of the leather scraps from her parents’ shoe factory. She founded an Austin jewelry company called Vinca, after a flower that her parents used to sew onto their children’s shoes. [Read more…]
Joshua Bingaman, HELM Boots Founder
The Old Man and the Sea. Marlon Brando. Neil Young. Lobster fishing. Growing beards, smoking pipes, riding motorcycles, wearing dirty blue jeans.
These all-American, working-man images have inspired HELM Boots founder Joshua Bingaman to pursue the difficult task of producing a boot that is made entirely in the U.S.A. The quality of his work has earned the partnership of a generations-old shoe factory in Maine. More recently, Nordstrom picked up the brand to sell online and in stores nationwide. [Read more…]
This guest blog post is by Hunter Stanford.
All day we saw six people, were never in danger of being hit by a car, never once wondered just where the heck we were, and actually caught a glimpse of some seemingly unspoiled nature.
Further, there were no hordes of joggers, groups of stubborn mothers hogging the walkway, or middle school punks with their glares.
These, my friend, are some fine stats for a disc golf course. [Read more…]
“There’s no graceful way to put on a bee suit,” one of my guides assured me as I awkwardly suited up inside Round Rock Honey’s warehouse. She’s seen her share of eager beekeeper novices, having taught bee keeping classes for the public during the summer, and for home school and other groups year-round.
Round Rock Honey founder Konrad Bouffard joined us, and together we drove a short distance to a group of bee hives. They sit in plain sight of a busy road, but theft is rarely a threat or concern. Few people are equipped to face a hive full of angry bees, no matter how much they’re craving honey.
[Read more…]
First timers are often skeptical about using a chiropractor. I know I was.
I mean after all, you are literally putting your body into the hands of a stranger who is going to manipulate it, making it snap, crackle and pop.
Admittedly, the first time I ever went to a chiropractor was out of desperation. I was just out of high school and had this pain in my neck that wouldn’t allow me to turn my neck to the left at all. I tried everything and nothing worked. Then a friend suggested a chiropractor and, with great hesitation, I went in.
Fifteen minutes later, I was out of the office. My neck was like new and I was totally floored.
Now there should be a fair warning: [Read more…]
Colonel McIntire with Ronald McDonald and Austin COO Ann Jerome
Having served in the military for 20 years, it’s always encouraging to see young men and women in uniform making a difference. There is a mysterious mixture of humility and pride in those who have donned the uniform in service to their country that only veterans really understand. There is a brotherhood, a camaraderie that cannot easily be put into words.
Among my fondest memories of serving in the military were the times when my crew volunteered to help the local community in which we were stationed. Recently, I was honored and privileged to attend a special event at the Ronald McDonald House Charities of Austin. On September 20, 2012, dozens of soldiers from Fort Hood’s 69th Air Defense Artillery Brigade volunteered to help out Austin’s Ronald McDonald House.
The Brigade’s commanding officer, Colonel Randall McIntire, was personally impacted by Ronald McDonald House Charities (RMHC) when his daughter was hospitalized for heart surgery. McIntire had always heard about RMHC, but he didn’t fully understand the impact it could have until he and his wife needed to be close to their daughter. [Read more…]
Cancer doesn’t discriminate; we’ve all been touched in one way or another. And though generalizations have their weaknesses, it’s fair to say that men have an especially hard time seeking out advice and support when they receive a diagnosis.
Founded in Melbourne, Australia in 2003, Movember has become an explosive worldwide movement that is empowering men. The organization does this by recruiting “mo-bros” to raise funding and awareness for men’s health initiatives.
Last year, in Movember’s 8th year of existence, over 850,00 men registered to participate in Movember. Together, they raised more than $126 million dollars! In 2012, 21 countries around the world are participating in the movement. [Read more…]