Hey hey!! This is my final Austin post (for now), and I am feeling quite emotional about it even now!

August 1st I had a hair appointment to get some brightness added to my hair. I have really toned down the blonde over the years- as much as I miss it sometimes, it is now much lower maintenance. My favorite salon in Austin is the Salon at the Domain. It’s one of the more affordable ones I could find, and it’s always fun to walk around the Domain when there’s time.

I arrived about 30 mins early, so I walked down to Coffee + Crisp to grab a coffee. I ordered their chagaccino (chaga mushroom cacao, cinnamon, vanilla and monk fruit) with oat milk-  oh myyy, it was so creamy & delicious!!

That afternoon I ran some errands around town and studied for an “on call” assignment. This was pretty nerve-racking. It was a simulated situation where a patient called in with an endocrine emergency. Overall, it went well and was a great learning experience!

The On Call took place on August 2nd, and then I was DONE officially with school.. D-O-N-E!!! Surreal. I booked a massage at Viva Day Spa using a giftcard from Christmas.

It was the best massage ever.

After the massage, I was craving a salad. Of course, I stopped by Sweet Green .

After dinner, I went for a magical sunset run, free of school stressors.

August 3rd was a big day of packing & getting rid of our couch I had a real emotional attachment to. We originally bought a set of couches from Big Lots back when we moved into our first Toho in 2015. We wanted to get something that wouldn’t break the bank that we could turn around and sell at the end of the year, thinking we would just get new furniture in CA. Wellllll, we ended up loving our furniture set and taking it across the country with us. Over time we had to get rid of each piece- but in this apartment we were left with our smaller couch. This thing was falling apart through the last year. It started shedding it’s faux leather everywhere, and we knew it was time to part with our final piece of the original Big Lots Lot.

I wasn’t able to move this couch out on my own, so I hired a disposal company to move it out and the big egg basket swing from the porch (the swing was also hard to part with since it’s where I did much of my blogging in CA). Who knew you could become so attached to a couple pieces of furniture?

On August 4th, I went to my last Orange Theory class in Austin.

Across from Orange Theory, there is a Cafe Medici, so I swung in there after class to get my caffeine boost for the day. Anddd since I was both wired and down to the wire with coffee shops I could try, I ventured into downtown after to also try The Hideout Coffee.

Between the two, I preferred Hideout Coffee- yum!!! I like Cafe Medici’s cafe au laits, but their iced cold brew was too strong for my liking.

In the afternoon, my mom and Pete drove into town for one final day in Austin together and to help me with shipping my mattress to Austin (I slept on our guest room mattress through the summer).

Before they arrived, I swung by Fresa’s to pick up some tacos for Pete and had Bouldin Creek Cafe delivered for my mom and me (an all vegetarian cafe!).

We went out into the pool area to enjoy our lunches.

Oh my goodness – this Tarzen’s Big Salad was outstanding… it had roasted portobello strips and stir-fried broccoli tossed in nutritional yeast, organic mixed greens, tomatoes, carrots, sunflower sprouts, avocado & sunflower seeds tossed with chipotle pecan pesto & ginger miso dressing.

After lunch, we lugged the mattress to the drop off spot to be shipped. I could not have done that without the help of my mom and Pete- it was a project!

When we finished up our chore for the day, we headed out for our final Austin dinner (for now)! Perla’s had been on my list of restaurants to try since day one of arriving in Austin, so it was an easy decision when choosing where to go.

We went before the dinner rush, so we were seated right away outside. You must sit out on their patio. It’s adorable. I forgot to get pics when we first got there, but I got them later on after it was dark out, hah.

This meal was insane in the best way from start to finish.

We first tried their octopus with avocado, squid ink ranch, sunflower seed salsa, and lime. This had a unique smoky flavor. I think it’s the type of dish you’d either love it or hate it— I absolutely loved it!

The crowd-pleaser all around were these wood-grilled creole oysters with oregano butter, parmesan, bread crumbs, lemon, & toast. Holy moly. I cannot handle how good these were. Pete ordered their lobster roll, which was close to being on par with some that I’ve seen in the Bay Area!!

My mom and I shared their trout – easily one of the best fish dishes around. 

On the side, we ordered the oak-grilled heirloom carrots, chevre yogurt, & spiced pecans. This was also one of my favorite parts of the meal- these carrots were unreal!

After dinner, we went to Jeni’s for Ice Cream. I was so stuffed, I couldn’t have a full cone, but I shared some of the dairy free orange sorbet with my mom. It was soo creamy. You would have no idea it was dairy free!

We walked back to the apartment, and made it right in time to enjoy one last sunset from the rooftop!

Mom and Pete then had to drive home to Keller before it got too late. We said our goodbyes (I couldn’t hold back the tears), and then it was time for me to finish packing and cleaning to leave the next day.

It took way longer than expected, and I didn’t get to sleep until around 2 AM.

The next day, I couldn’t pass up the chance to try another coffee shop before leaving- so I went to Halcyon and grabbed a coffee to help revive me after getting very little sleep the night prior.

And that’s a wrap. I took down my keys to management, said goodbyes, checked the mail room one last time, did one last run through of the apartment and then hit the road.

On my way out, I saw one last very Austin thing- a guy walking down the road with a rooster on his shoulder. LOL.

Byeeeeee, Austin. Until next time ❤️