Thanks,
Kelsey
I'm fairly new to ATX (3 years and counting!) and I love to check out the local scene or lay around without pants, depends on the day. This blog is all about my adventures keeping Austin weird and finding my dream job along the way. Want to know more about me? Just click the button below! :)
I have officially created my own website that is dedicated to my adventures, career and some life advice tips. Please check it out at www.thewanderlustbeginner.com and let me know what you think! :) Unfortunately, this means I will not be spending that much time on my professional website or this blog. However, it has a similar theme and voice as this blog so I hope you enjoy!
Thanks, Kelsey
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I'm pretty excited to announce that I will be traveling to Las Vegas in about two weeks! I'll be going with one of my best friends, Amanda, I met at Stephen F. Austin State University. We already bought our tickets to see Diplo at the XS nightclub and a tour of the Hoover Dam by The Grand Canyon Tour Company. We have already planned to check out The Strip, Bellagio, Gold and Sliver Pawn from A&E's Pawn Stars, Buddy V's Ristorante from the Cake Boss himself and of course various casinos, shops and bars. If you have any ideas we would love to hear them!
We would love to tour the Grande Canyon, but we are having a difficult time finding something in our price range. Do you have any ideas besides renting a car and driving down ourselves? I know we are going to be there for five full days, but it seems like we can't fit everything into them! This is exactly how I felt for New York. It's just so darn exciting! I will be uploading a new blog a few days prior to my travels to give my travel tips, tricks and more! So... stay tuned! Also, how much money would you bring to Vegas? Our limit is around $600... so far. Yes, we are cheap and no I will not gamble away my money. Like Carrie Bradshaw, "I like my money right where I can see it... Hanging in my closet". -Kelsey P.S. Do you love the new logo and website redesign? Head on over to the Contact page and let me know what you think! If you have any ideas I would love to hear those too! Although my life isn't really secret or that exciting as Walter Mitty's I have to give a big shout out and apology to Ben Stiller. He did such a fantastic job with that movie and I'm kicking myself in the butt for not watching it sooner. The graphics, the actors, the movie music all pieced together to make something amazingly serene and beautiful.
Also, I'm thinking about starting a Wednesday weekly called "What The Hell Austin?!" just listing out the bat-crap crazy stuff that I see around this town and or experiences. I already have about 5 in my head I can think of. On top of that I might start YouTube'ing my blogs out right. What are your thoughts on this? Hope everyone has a fantastic evening and as Leigh Anne says, "Happy Friday Eve"!! If you don't know about her.. seriously check her out and her friend, Bunny. They are my two favorite YouTube stars! -Kelsey 4 days deep into "becoming a minimalist" and it's a lot harder than I thought it would be. I've already put $168 MORE on my credit card. (insert crying and laughing emoji) However, Discover offers this awesome Freeze service where I can freeze my credit card, but my reoccurring payments aren't hindered by it. It will not allow any new purchases either, so instead of physically freezing the credit card in my freezer, I can do it with a push of a button... Thanks Discover! You've got my back. :)
So let me just break down this minimalist thing from the past 4 days. Day 1: Meditate for 15 min. This one was pretty easy for me, since I don't have cable and I read often. It allowed me to prepare myself for day 2. I'm not 100% sure what you're supposed to mediate about, but for me I started contemplating new goals for the year... which brings me to day 2. Day 2: Define my goals for the year. Originally my goal was to travel more and see new things. So far I've been to New York City, Colorado Springs and I'm heading to Vegas in July. So I would say I need to reevaluate my goals, since I've basically met that one. My new goal was to pay off my credit card and live my life completely with out them. So far that one has been a failure, but with failure comes success! I also want to purchase a home within the next 2-4 years. The only way to do that is to live without credit cards. Day 3: Streamline your reading list. This again was pretty easy for me since I love to read. I've narrowed down the next 5 books that I'll be reading. I probably did this one a with more enthusiasm and excitement. Day 4: Go bare-faced. Again, this one is pretty easy for me. Especially since it's a Saturday and I went to the gym. I'm not scared to go bare-faced at all. I may have patchy, un-even skin tone with hints of pink and red, but I love my skin and being able to rub my eyes without altering my eyeliner. Now that's a great feeling! Future Days: Day 5: Clean out your closet. I hope to clean out my closet and take some of my things to Plato's Closet. It allows me to create more space and I get some bonus cash too! Can't go wrong there. Day 6: I plan to downsize my beauty, even though I just bought new foundation at Ulta today. Oh well. I know I need to get rid of somethings! It'll be hard to make those decisions! Has anyone else decided to take this challenge? If so, why? Leave a comment! Thanks again for reading! -Kelsey Over this past weekend I was able to attend a friend's graduation, watch Pitch Perfect 2 and attend a kick-butt slip-n-slid grad party! Valarie, I'm so proud of you! I'm proud of everyone who graduated this past weekend. It takes determination and time to accomplish what ya'll have done and no one can take that away from you! It doesn't matter if you graduated with a certificate, associates, bachelors or masters, you studied your butt off to better your life. Das Sound Machine!!! Becca, Chloe and Fat Amy are back and more hilarious than ever! They even added on a few more acca girls? Acca team mates? (whatever they call themselves) Flo is a new addition to the the team that is just as random and hilarious as Lily. I'm trying to not list any spoilers, but here is one so STOP READING if you haven't seen the movie yet. I'm in love with the end! I loved how they brought back the alumni, or whatever they called them. It's so sweet and it's pretty kick ass that Katey Segal plays the newest acca member's mom! I love her! On a side note, Das Sound Machine is weird as hell and kind of creepy. They are so robotic and with that being said, I applaud the actors. They did a pretty good job. if that's the vibe the director was going for. I also loved the music producer and his nephew's conversations and Becca and Kommisarr's (Das Sound Machine leader) conversations, they were just side splitting! "Take your hipster self and go in the corner" -Becca's Music Producer Boss (not a 100% quote from the movie, just from memory) "your sweat smells like cinnamon, ugh she's just in my head" -Becca Ok, so as far as entertainment goes I would totally watch this in theaters again and I'm most defiantly buying the Blu-Ray DVD. Side note, I'm trying to lower my debt. So I've found a wonderful blog called Blonde on a Budget. Basically she had 30k worth of student loans and only took a couple of years to pay off by being frugal and becoming a minimalist! Currently she's participating in a "no shopping ban" and she has a 30-day challenge to becoming a minimalist. Within the next few weeks I'll be posting my progress as I go. Hopefully I can do this! My debt isn't even half of her student loans, but my bills are ridiculous with low pay. :/ Such a bummer. So hopefully she can help! Only time will tell. Sucks I'm such an impatient person (haha). Again, Congrats Val on graduation and passing your state test! -Kelsey So, after my second and brief post, we moved into another apartment complex and my lovely boyfriend failed to get the internet switched over in time. Dun, Dun, Dun! So, I haven’t been able to post or even really tell everyone the good news! The funny part about the internet is that we could have had it the entire time since the old residents had Time Warner and they didn't shut it off yet. While I’ve been having fun in no internet land, I managed to score an awesome new career with ExamKrackers, see two awesome movies, attend a wedding and reconnect with my passion of sleeping! (i.e. I've been so bored without the internet!) I will be working from home with ExamKrackers to inform students about an awesome new study sessh (session) that includes classes, study materials and resources to help prepare them for entrance exams like the GRE & LSAT. To have and to hold... Sam’s wedding was truly beautiful and full of love! She was just stunning in her wedding dress and you could tell it was what she always dreamt of. The expression on her face just said it all. I’m so happy for her and I'm blessed I was able to be a part of it. I wish her the best for her future! Love you Sam! Avengers Assemble! Lets get to the chase, I went and watched Marvel's Avengers today and it was awesome, fabulous, hilarious and has the best set of actors by far! The Olsen sister truly kicked major ass and the entire film did what it was supposed to do, which is take my mind of reality and emerged me into a fantasy land. I will admit it was a bit long with extra cheesy jokes. However, as far as a sequel goes, it was pretty damn good. I can completely understand why they are breaking up the next Avengers into two parts. You can’t get enough face time with any of the super heroes with only 2 and a half hours! I really can't get enough of the entire cast, they play their roles so well! Damn, wish I could be a super hero or at least as hot, cute and mysterious as Black Widow! My boyfriend did mention that he didn't like it as much as the first. He believes it's targeting families and children more. I kind of agree, but I don't mind it! I'd rather catch a Disney film anyway over a creepy, serial killer flick. I'll always be a loyal Disney fan. On top of that, I'm way too stoked for Captain America Civil War, Ant Man and everything in between! Paul Rudd is a super hero now. Does that mean anyone can be a super hero? Sign me up! That’s What we’ll call you... Cinderella! In case you didn’t want to catch a singing, sad Disney film… this movie was anything but! No singing, however they did include three scenes where someone of course dies and you cry for humanity. I will be buying this movie on DVD, not because Rob Stark was the prince or anything, but because they made this film beautiful. I loved how they animated the animals and the actors couldn’t have done a better job. So you’re not surprised… ignore the pants the men wear unless you want to see some serious bulge. Not kidding. I couldn’t stop laughing! Disney, FYI, kids don’t need to see ANY of that! In case you missed it, there are very well known actors through out this movie that stared in the Avengers and Harry Potter! Amaya's Taco Villiage, South Park Meadows, Austin, Texas This past weekend I was craving Mexican food something fierce. I Google, Yelped and UrbanSpooned and this little restaurant caught my eye. Finally after 3 years of living in Austin, Texas, I've found my favorite Mexican food place!! FINALLY!!!! Their cheese enchiladas, guac and red sauce is amazing! Don't get me started on their specials and margaritas. Plus our chips were served warm and perfect! I would say I'm in love, but I think I'm rushing into things, haha. I'm so happy they have a patio and that I live close by! This is most def. my go-to restaurant now. Thanks Amaya's!! Coming soon... I'll be reviewing more places around Austin, Lufkin and Vegas! I'll also be revamping the website and creating a logo. If you have an suggestions just give me a buzz! :) Last weekend I made a trip back home for my Maw Maw's 85th Birthday, a couple's shower and to move some furniture. Maw Maw's Birthday celebration was so cute! I of course arrived late (they were already tearing down the party and after all I just drove 4.5 hours!), but that didn't stop her from being the sweetest lady ever! The family hosted it at a local, old, downtown theater that was just remodeled named The Theater of the Pines. She even had her name on the marquee (Eep! Too cute!). I'm downgrading from a 719 square foot apartment to a 582 square foot apartment and it kind of sucks, however, it'll be gated and I'll have covered parking! Woo! There's also a dog park for my sweet fur babies and an awesome pool. I'm not a fan of 3 flights of stairs, but I have to look at it as a positive. It'll just add more exercise to my Tues., Thurs. and Sat. gym routine! :) The couple's shower was nice and crawfish boil themed! It was great catching up with everyone and I know my boyfriend was pretty happy (it was for his family after all). The bride to be had an pretty cool margarita machine and hilarious cake that said "pinching tails and sucking heads"! Oh Lord, but the couple had an amazing turn out and I know they'll be extremely happy together! :) While I was back home I noticed how rushed and flustered I am. I felt like I had an intense, emotional road rage. I believe it's from living in Austin. Before moving here I had grown up in a small, Texas town where everyone moseyed on along down the road, so I grew up with that mindset. Austin quickly changed that with its drivers who dangerously speed by others, honk their horns and yell at everyone. I think this is a good time to self reflect on the attitude you wish to carry around and for people to see. It's little things like your attitude that will have the biggest impact on you. So, with that being said, one of many new goals is to focus on my attitude. To be grateful, calm and overall put bad emotions behind me through each situation I encounter through out the day. This includes driving, "debates" with the boyfriend and much, much more! After a bit of self reflection, I Googled some quotes that I thought could help me through this goal. I found these quotes on GoodReads. 1. “It is when you lose sight of yourself, that you lose your way. To keep your truth in sight you must keep yourself in sight and the world to you should be a mirror to reflect to you your image; the world should be a mirror that you reflect upon.” ― C. JoyBell C. 2. “Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today and creates a vision for tomorrow.” ― Melody Beattie I also got to see the sweetest nephew ever and play with the rabbit (Notch) my mom's cat tried to kill. :( My granny took me to iHop and bought me two dresses and four cardigans for my (hopeful) next career move! Overall it was great seeing my twinny, nephew, mom and granny! Well worth the 4.5 hour trip. This is another moment I figured out that I needed to forgive others and move on with my life. It doesn't make sense to hold grudges and negativity, they only weigh you down. Now I leave you with some awesome quotes to help motivate and some stellar pictures of my Maw Maw's 85!! Enjoy! Photo Cred: Melissa Crawford
I'm a Texan girl who is turning (gasp!) 25 this month. I can rent a car (woo!) and my insurance premiums go down, however, I'm still trying to "find myself". I have not clue what direction I'm going in with my career. All I know is that I love to write and be social and that I have a masters degree. So, honestly nothing is holding me back, well sort of. I'm dedicating this blog to my random opinions or thoughts for the moment. This blog could include anything from make-up, happenings around Austin, Texas, customer service experience to the crazy person who just cut me off in rush-hour traffic on 35. With that being said, welcome to my blog. I hope you find peace with yourself and reasoning through my ramblings.
-Kelsey |
A quick Statement from Kelsey...Kelsey moved to ATX area 3 years ago, since then she has been building her career, while keeping her traveling dreams alive. Archives |