Archive for March, 2010

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March 31, 2010

Mmmm free Champagne Mango milkshakes

K&N Management, owner and creator of Mighty Fine Burgers, Fries & Shakes, made history by being the first restaurant group to receive the prestigious Texas Award for Performance Excellence (TAPE). To celebrate receiving the state’s highest recognition for quality, Mighty Fine Burgers, Fries & Shakes will have in-store celebrations and offer free “champagne” hand-dipped shakes made with peak-of-season champagne mangoes (no alcohol!) at all three locations from 5-8pm through Friday at all three locations.

Recognizing the highest level of quality, the TAPE Award considers performance and the application of quality and customer service principles.

I like Mighty Fine because they use free-range meat and fry their french fries in olive oil.* They were also one of the first burgers I ate coming off of my “I don’t eat burgers” lifetime. Check out the first post on ‘em here.

www.mightyfineburgers.com

*I talked to them about it one time, and they did say their meat was free-range, but that was only one experience. Matt, my commentor here, is correct though, they do fry their fries in peanut oil. :-( No more Mighty Fine for me.

Posted in Business, Eating | 4 Comments »

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March 29, 2010

Yak Pak is Bak

Swag abounds during SXSW, so how does a company set itself out from the noise? Yak Pak–yes, the backpack staple–let its stylish, functional tote bags do the talking. They sweetly sent me one after SX to take for a spin, and after I used it as a weekender this past weekend, I can say that I LOVE LOVE LOVE it. It’s perfectly functional and sublimely cute.

Things I love about the Tara Tote:

  • Perfect-length straps for a shoulder bag: not too long, not too short.
  • Tall and wide, but not too tall or too wide (perfect size).
  • Zip top and zip pocket inside.
  • Hip blue and white shadow plaid!
  • ONLY $25!!! (ok, so I didn’t buy mine, but I WOULD)

And to top that all off, apparently the rappers love the Yak Pak, which makes sweet–and cheap–luggage, purses, messengers, and of course the ubiquitous backpack … check out who is carrying the Laptop Shoulder Bag:

Pitbull Lil Jon

AWESOME!

Posted in fashion | 2 Comments »

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March 29, 2010

Lake Fave Ski Shores is About to Re-Open

Iconic lakeside Ski Shores Café announced it will reopen sometime in April (it had previously said April 2) under new management — serving the same great fare (their burgers are an Austin classic) plus new menu options in open-air facility double the previous capacity.

For more than 50 years, boaters (and jet skiers) have pulled right up to the dock to grab food and hang out at Ski Shores Café, a short boat ride west of the 360 bridge (by car, off 2222 near the end of long and winding City Park Road).

Awesome new features at Ski Shores:

* Boat in at one of several new cleated boat slips
* Expansive deck with new palapa bar
* Seated table service with waitstaff
* Live music several days a week, flatscreen TVs
* Free wifi
* Order dockside delivery direct to your boat
* Bring your dog!

New management team Rick Engel and Mark Turner are owners in, and operators of Austin restaurants Little Woodrow’s, Austin Java, Uncle Billy’s Brew & Que, and the Austin-area Texadelphia restaurants.

2905 Pearce Road Austin, TX 78730 – (512) 804-0326

www.skishoresaustin.com

Posted in Eating | 2 Comments »

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March 25, 2010

Cowboy Party OR Deep Eddy Sweet Tea Vodka

I’ve written about Austin Young Chamber of Commerce before (here), but this time they are throwing a mega shindig. At their Tie One On party at Rebel’s Honky Tonk, there will be an OPEN BAR from 7-11pm, live music from Grant Jones and the Pistol Whip Lassos & Mikey and the Soda Jerks, a bull riding contest, pairs dancing contest, punching bag contest, and a best dressed contest.  Plus, everytime you participate in a contest you get entered into the raffle to win two round-trip tickets ANYWHERE Jet Blue flies!  There will be lots of other prizes and surprises, so don’t miss this event!

GET TIX NOW! $25 – Members / $35 – Non-members

Event details
When: Friday March 26th, 2010, 7-11pm
Where: Rebel’s Honky Tonk
305 West 5th Street

OR

Girls’ Night at the Gallery with Deep Eddy Sweet-Tea Infused Vodka!
(Guys are welcome, too!)
Friday, March 26, 2010
6-8:30p
Featuring Complimentary Cocktails from better-than-Firefly (which is coming out with a bourbon!):
Deep Eddy
Door Prizes from Spa Reveil and Tusa Fitness
1501 W. 5th Street-Inside the Art of Jewelry and Art on 5th

AND

Achachay! at Flamingo Cantina (because you didn’t see enough Dirty Sixth during SX) at 10p!

Posted in Going Out, Good people/services | Leave a Comment »

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March 24, 2010

Top Ten Cheesy Dance Movies List

Because my last post sparked not one but TWO comments on how I was watching Center Stage 2: Turn it Up and NO comments on how you could win a Guerilla Suit (ok, Tolly, yours included both but it was weighted MORE toward CSTiU so by the laws of rounding the above statement holds true), I present to you my TOP TEN CHEESY DANCE MOVIES LIST*!

Criteria is strict: must be cheesy. Must include dance. Must, if flipped through while channel-surfing, cause me to stop everything meaningful that I might have been doing or had planned to do in order to watch it, from whatever point it is at. Must make me wish that the Vermonster was as romantic as men in movies (momentarily only). Must make me want to work out, then flop onto couch with pint of ice cream instead.

TOP 10 Cheesy Dance Movies:

  1. Center Stage
    Ballerinas! Love interests!
  2. Center Stage: Turn it Up (technically there’s no ’2′ in it … my bad)
    I may or may not like this better than 1. Pretty much I have a girl crush on Kate Parker. And her abs.
  3. Step Up
    OMG I LOVE LOVE LOVE Channing Tatum. And Jenna Dewan. And that they are now married. Excuse me while I go stream it on netflix.
  4. Coyote Ugly
    So good my bartender friends and I tried to recreate it in our on-campus pub, before they actually did recreate Coyote Uglys all around the country.
  5. Stomp the Yard
    Badass.
  6. Bring it On
    Oh the days when Kirsten Dunst and Eliza Dushku were innocent cheerleaders. Sigh.
  7. Bring it On: All or Nothing
    Not to be confused, this is third in a series but I don’t like the second and they aren’t really series, per se, so it doesn’t really matter. I heart Hayden and is this Solange Knowles’ acting debut?
  8. Save the Last Dance
    The racial tension, the misunderstandings, the psychology!
  9. You Got Served
    Gotta love rappers who make dance-off movies.
  10. Honey
    I said cheesy, didn’t I? Has anyone else even seen this?

What say you, interwebs? Did I miss any?

*List is post-1987, so before you get your tutu in a wad, this is cheesy dance movies POST-Dirty Dancing. I don’t argue with Swayze. Or Bacon. Or Jennifer Beals (Flashdance AND Dirty Dancing). Nor do I dare call them cheesy.

Posted in film | 10 Comments »

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March 22, 2010

Getchya Guerilla Suit

As we all “get back to business” now that SXSW is over (phew … I spent most of Sunday on my couch watching Center Stage 2: Turn it Up), there’s a really cool opportunity for someone really getting back to business: earlier this month, agency vets James Moody and Kevin Whitley announced the creation of Guerilla Suit (GS), a full-service agency dedicated to building and growing businesses in the modern age through ‘operations-tailored branding’.

To REALLY introduce the company, however, they’re throwing a contest where the winner gets all their services FREE for one lucky small business, non-profit, charity, or cause.

“We call what we do ‘operations-tailored branding,’” says Kevin Whitley, “It’s auditing HOW our clients do what they do from an operations perspective and working backward from there to ensure their brand marketing is strategically supporting the entire process. We encourage the form to follow the function until the two blend seamlessly together.”

Clients include Schering-Plough Coporation, The Mohawk Austin (Moody owns), Urbanspace Realtors, Active Life Movement, Morsels, Inc., Transmission Entertainment, Fun Fun Fun Fest (Moody co-founded), HELM handmade boots, and Bluecoat Systems.

The deadline for submissions is April 5, 2010 and the winner will be chosen on April 20th, 2010.

Guerilla Suit will offer a suite of services that include business consultation, brand development, logo and identity design, website design, market planning, and advertising … based on the needs of the business or organization that is chosen. The entire suite, excluding vendor and production costs, will be delivered at no cost to the winning client. The PROVE IT! winner will get a complete brand suit … harhar. Guerilla suit. Get it?

Enter your biz or fave cause here: http://guerillasuit.com/submissions/

Posted in Business | 3 Comments »

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March 20, 2010

Awesomeness I’ve been doing and where I’m headed

Yesterday’s awesome:

EXPRESS ROCKS at The Phoenix with cute girlie band The Likes, where I got gifted! I think it’s my first visit to a “Gifting Suite” … I was so excited! Lots of love for that event, super fun.

Nuke the Soup at Kenichi with free delicious sushi

Today’s awesome:

PEREZ HILTON / SWAGG PARTY!

Lineup:

7:00 – 7:35 PM | DJ Atrak

7:35 PM – 7:50 PM | Soko

8:00 PM – 8:20 PM | Sliimy performs

8:30 PM – 8:50 PM | Macy Gray

9:00 PM – 9:20 PM | Mike Posner

9:30 PM – 10:00 PM | VV Brown

10:10 PM – 10:30 PM | Agnes

10:40 PM – 11:20 PM | Alphabeat

11:30 PM – 12:00 AM | Marina and the Diamonds

12:10 AM – 12:40 AM | Snoop Dogg

12:50 AM – 1:10 AM | Estelle

1:20 AM – 2:00 AM | Courtney Love and Hole

House DJs: DJ Mia Moretti & JD Samson

Last year, Kanye stopped by for a surprise show, it’s anybody’s guess who it’ll be this year … I hear Justin Timberlake is in town …

Sunday’s Hangover Fun:

Sunday March 21st: HOLY CACAO has FREE Birthday Cake Balls for the one year anniversary of its opening. The Birthday Ball is a traditional yellow cake, mixed with a butter cream frosting, coated in dark chocolate and topped with festive sprinkles.  No purchase necessary, limit one per customer.

Holy Cacao, 1311 S. 1st (located in the Trailer Park & Eatery)

Posted in Going Out | Leave a Comment »

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March 16, 2010

OMG Discount on j’tote!

Isn’t she pretty? Normally $195, you can have her for ONLY $75. Click here.

People literally stop me every single time I carry this bag to tell me how cute it is. And now you could have it for a mere $75 by entering the promo code FRIENDS75 at checkout before midnight on Thursday. Worth it a million times over. First review here.

Posted in Shopping | 2 Comments »

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March 16, 2010

Flah Flah Flah

The first Annual Austin Fleadh (Pronounced Flah, the proper Gaelic word for Festival) debuts this week on Wednesday, otherwise known as St. Patrick’s Day o10. It’s a wonder this city doesn’t spontaneously combust during SXSW with all the parties and booze flowing … I mean, I personally feel like I’m going to bust, so multiply that times a million and you have how Austin probably feels. UM, anyway, the Flah, as I prefer to call it, because if I write Fleadh I want to pronounce it like my dog has been de-flead, is at 4th and San Jacinto from noon to 10pm.

Rumor has it that there will be Free Guinness when the doors open at noon, and by rumor I mean confirmed truth they aren’t publicizing except that they are here and now. Alongside the temporarily free favorite beverage of Ireland, there will be traditional fare of fish and chips, meat pies, along with the Guinness and Harp.

Bands:

RSVP here.

(I’m pretty sure it doesn’t matter)

Posted in free, Going Out | Leave a Comment »

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March 12, 2010

Reminder: SXSW Spreadsheet

I’m so psyched so many of you are using the SXSW 2010 Free Party spreadsheet! Just wanted to remind you that it’s constantly updated as I find out about new parties, so make sure you’re checking this version: https://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=0Asjskwdlt0podDk4V2R6T1VScHNGa05kQ0hyd2Y4d3c&hl=en

Some weird “Copy of SXSW Spreadsheet” babies have started showing up in my google docs, which is cool if you want the bastard version, but for the bright, shiny, constantly-up-to-date copy, you gotta click on the link above. :-)

HAPPY SXSW!!

Oh, and because this party is usual on everyone’s Favorites list:

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a Comment »

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