Archive for November, 2010

November 30, 2010

Aspen: Extreme Ski Season Kick-Off Party (free booze)

It’s World AIDs Day tomorrow/today depending on when you’re reading :-) 12/1. Multi-task by hitting up the annual ski season kick-off party and fundraiser to benefit the Colorado AIDS Project. Naturally, there’s an “Aspen Extreme” movie theme with a costume contest–come dressed as your favorite character–, free beverages and new menu tastings from 6-7:30pm, and DJ Dylan spinning from 6-10pm. Also, an appearance by Olympic Snowboarder Louis Vito and a chance to win prizes!

Wednesday, December 1, 2010, 6-11pm, Sky Hotel, 709 E. Durant Ave.

November 30, 2010

Austin: La Pâtisserie Opens with Macarons

Have you ever been watching Blair nosh on authentic French macarons during a Gossip Girl episode and wish you were doing the same?

Thankfully, La Pâtisserie by Luxe Sweets opens today to fulfill those needs! There’s a Parisian touch into every last detail of La Pâtisserie by Luxe Sweets. Whimsical art work by local artist Graham Franciose will flank the walls. Coffee and tea have been imported from France, and the staff has even brushed up on French pronunciations during lessons at the Alliance Française d’Austin.

“A dream, 20 years in the making, is finally coming true! I can’t believe how lucky I am to get to bring my favorite part of Paris, the pastries, to Austin,” says Nagree, owner of Luxe Sweets.

La Pâtisserie’s glass display cases will be full of Nagree’s signature, vibrantly-colored French macarons, with avant garde flavors like rose, lavender, champagne, and cardamom honey orange. Viennoiseries (no, I don’t know what that means either) like the pain au chocolat, almond brioche and the morning bun will replace the typical breakfast pastry. Plus there are les petites douceurs
(baked goods) like Soraiya’s coffee éclairs, pear chevre gallette, and melt-in-your-mouth financiers.

I don’t know what half of these things are, but they sound delectable and I love the idea of having a little French pastry shop in the heart of South Austin, at 602 West Annie Street.

Tuesday – Thursday: 7AM – 3PM

Friday – Sunday from 7AM – 4PM.

La Pâtisserie by Luxe Sweets: lpaustin.com

November 29, 2010

Things I Want (iPhone 4)

We all know I’ve been struggling with my iPhone (I’m on #3 in two months). Perhaps if I had one of these fabulous, easy-to-carry wristlets or clutches it wouldn’t be so easy to lose my phone?

Michael Kors iPhone wallet $79.95

Cole Haan iPhone wallet $129.95

November 25, 2010

37 Things I Am Thankful For …

My list hasn’t changed too much since last year … I mean, it’s now EndlessBeauty.com instead of another project that allows me to create and share awesome stuff with the world, but I still love and cherish my family, puppy (going on 4 years old!), Vermonster, friends, sports teams, CrossFit … here’s what’s new that I love and am thankful for right this minute:

  1. Adventure. Personal. Professional. It’s all an adventure.
  2. King Yoga in Aspen
  3. Honeycrisp apples
  4. Denali’s football costume for Football Sundays
  5. The Guest Cave (or Dave Cave, for the month of November)
  6. A giant sofa that takes over most of the living room
  7. My Snuggie (gifted from Snuggie themselves!) even though it’s ugly, a lilac blur with peace signs all over it
  8. that you can order a table through the mail
  9. PritiNYC nail polish / that I can now have Rich Bitch nails
  10. No More Dirty Looks, a book that changed my view on cosmetics and connected me to a whole community of toxin-free women and men
  11. My Ugg moccasins
  12. wool socks
  13. MSM Emergen-C packets
  14. DLPA/5-HTP supps
  15. hot pink skis
  16. being from Texas
  17. Veggie chips, Terra chips, and other almost-healthy chips
  18. Pumpkin
  19. my yellow Land Rover with 20″ rims
  20. The internet
  21. Video capabilities on the iPhone 4 *in a cruel twist of fate, I wrote this post yesterday, then went outside to play frisbee with Nali and lost the phone in over a foot of snow.
  22. soft frisbees (for Nali)
  23. Summit status on Frontier Airlines
  24. getting to try all sorts of ridiculous beauty products I never would have tried otherwise
  25. Wine
  26. Rich Rocks jewelry, which never fails to impress and is always on Gossip Girl
  27. Gossip Girl
  28. and One Tree Hill, Life Unexpected, The Event, Glee, and Hellcats
  29. and TiVO
  30. Lake Champlain chocolates
  31. Skinny jeans that are almost jeggings but NOT QUITE
  32. #funnyhashtags
  33. Nali’s muzzle, so I don’t have to walk around terrified she’s going to eat a small child or grown man (same to her)
  34. foam rollers
  35. that snow still excites me because it’s new and different, I don’t hate it yet because it’s cold and wet
  36. Converse kicks
  37. Confidence, faith, grace, and energy. Optimism.
November 24, 2010

Gobble Gobble Thanksgiving Happs

There are tons of lists of restaurants open on Thanksgiving. Here’s the one for Austin. Here’s the one for Aspen.
Thus, I have no need to make lists. I will give you just one recommendation.

Austin: 24 Diner

How awesome is this? Family-style menu served at your table with three meat dishes, two types of stuffing, gravy, five sides, and a choice of two desserts—for just $19.95 per person (two-person minimum). Can you imagine all that food for just two people?! Sign me up! Here’s more:

Chef Andrew Curren will be preparing glazed ham, brined and roasted all-natural turkey breast and turkey leg confit with roasted turkey gravy alongside both cornbread stuffing with tasso and baguette stuffing with celery and sage. Homemade sides include mashed potatoes, smashed sweet potatoes, roasted Brussels sprouts, bacon-braised collard greens and cranberries with citrus. Finally, decide between a slice of rich pumpkin or chocolate pecan pie.

Reservations are not required and they’ll be loading up plates from 11 am to 2 am. The rest of the menu will be available too … 24 Diner: 600 N. Lamar Blvd., (512) 472-5400, 24diner.com

Aspen: FREE turkey at Hick House

Um, also, it’s opening day. See you on the slopes.

But after that, everyone (poor locals who can’t afford $90 prix fixe dinners) heads to the Hickory House for a free turkey dinner. Doors open at 11:30am and stay open ’til the food runs out, usually around 6pm. Main Street Bakery, Paradise Bakery, US Food Service and Aspen Party Rentals help out, and the Hick House landlord donates all the turkeys. I haven’t yet visited the Hick House, known for ribs and cheap wings during football, and I probably won’t eat much of their food (here’s doubting it’s happy), but a community dinner is just too cool to pass up.

November 22, 2010

Help Attack!

Penny for your tweet?

Help Attack! is a new Austin-based company that allows people to pledge a small amount for each Tweet (or soon each status update, check in, blog post–anything online and countable) to their favorite nonproft.

This tweet could be worth $$$. Or at least cents. It doesn’t matter what the content is, you pledge any amount per tweet (say 10 cents to Boys & Girls Club) for a certain amount of time (say December) and you’re donating via the easiest way possible–what you’re already doing.

Online fundraising is the most rapidly growing way for nonprofits to receive funds from individuals. According to Convio, 35-42 percent of online giving occurs in the last two months of the year. Plus, the unique platform encourages repeat monthly giving, catalyzing the shift from year-end gifts to year-long giving.

After just two months since the launch, HelpAttack! has processed nearly $1,500 in donations and are seeing average monthly pledges of about $25.

How are you giving this holiday season?

November 19, 2010

Austin: Red’s Porch First Birthday (free stuff)

Head to Red’s Porch on S. Lamar for a birthday party on Sunday, Nov. 21 starting at noon.

There’ll be drink specials, free food, music, and a washers tournament. The washer tournament will kick off the party at noon sponsored by Graham Barnes Distilling with drink specials from Treaty Oak Rum and Grahams Texas Tea Vodka (my FAVE ever).

Beer specials include a special cask of Lagunitas Brown Shugga, two types of special release Sierra Nevada 30-year Anniversary, Stone Russian Imperial Stout and (512) Brewing beer specials. The special cask of Lagunitas Brown Shugga will be tapped at 2 p.m. and the first 40 to be ordered will receive a free Lagunitas logo glass.

Pit barbecue including pork ribs, smoked chicken, beef sausage, shrimp boil, pulled pork and boudin balls, will be served until it runs out.

Live music artists including The Merles, Medicine Park and Jeremy Stedding will be playing from 1 – 5 p.m.

Also, the birthday party kicks off the new FREE Red’s Porch shuttle, a “veggie” bus which runs on french fry oil straight from the fryers. TIf you live in the 04 (or a three mile radius of Red’s) and have eight or more people, you can schedule in advance and the veggie bus will come pick you up, take you to Red’s for lunch or dinner and take you back to a location in your neighborhood. Red’s requires at least 24 hours notice to schedule the free customer shuttle.

Additionally, Red’s is introducing monthly pub crawls and brewery tours. $35 gets you transportation, brewery tours and beer tastings at the breweries and brew pubs, and an appetizer at Red’s when you return.

Red’s Porch, 3508 South Lamar Blvd. / 512.440.REDS / www.redsporch.com / @redsporch

November 19, 2010

Aspen: Pray for Snow Party in Snowmass

Because nothing in Aspen is ever online, I had to snap an iPhone pic of the event poster:

Pray for Snow Party in Snowmass

I know little more than what the poster tells you: Base Camp Bar & Grill is apparently opening under new management with a bang, serving FREE BEER and live music for the price of a canned good. Mammoth stew? Just trying to capitalize on the bones all around …

6p, tonight, 11/19

November 18, 2010

Austin: Gilda Grace Opens Friday

As if my neighborhood wasn’t cool enough already (Snap Kitchen? El Arbol?), a new boutique graces the Brykerwoods area. Gilda Grace Collections opens Friday, November 19th at 10am. Gilda Grace is assembled like a woman’s closet, albeit one curated by Austin-based entrepreneur and designer Nere Emiko.

The multi-level boutique features Emiko’s Beth Elis line, a high-end wedding dress line. Beth Elis has been featured in Brides, The Knot, and The Wedding Channel. Because Emiko is a study in contradictions–her degree from Carnegie Mellon is in Electrical and Computer Engineering–naturally her boutique would feature all sorts of fashions, from casual to formal, relaxed to stiff, practical to impossible … plus hard-to-find books, antique furnishings, and rare paper products.

Want some names? Try chocolates from Maison Bouche, leather pillows from Beirn, books from DAP and Assouline, and all sorts of goodies from Ittala, Lafco, Soolip, Libretto, Triple C Design, Modern Alchemy, and Design Abroad.

Of course, there’s still the outdoor garden for dinner parties, baby and bridal showers, teas, happy hours, and even small weddings. What more could you want, really?

Welcome to the nabe.

November 18, 2010

Dear Jess,

You let me go shopping in your giveway clothes a few weeks ago.

Shopping in Jess' trunk

… and you gave me a Ralph Lauren down jacket. I have worn it every single day I have been in cold weather since.

I cannot thank you enough!

Friends are awesome :-)

Love,

Me

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