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