Still in Love with Polaroid

Moontower Saloon in south Austin is a massively chill bar with three beach volleyball courts in the back. They also have a patio, live music, and great food! I played in the coed blind-draw beach volleyball tournament put on by 512 Volleyball . Everyone was super nice, very laid back, and the competition was fierce.  This is me and my friend Audrey! We are beach and indoor volleyball teammates from the great city of Baltimore. Even though it was February, we were blessed with weather in the upper 70s and low 80s, which resulted in me getting a pretty red sunburn! photo by Tony Galindo photo by  Tony Galindo     photo by  Tony Galindo   photo by  Tony Galindo   photo by  Tony Galindo photo by  Tony Galindo Later in my trip, I went to dinner with a friend and ran into this famous graffiti of the kind frog! He always wants to know how you are... *    *    * I wanted to ...

On Valentine's Day, February 14, 2017, I signed up to volunteer for the morning shift at the Central Texas Food Bank . Located in Austin, the food bank receives, processes, and provides packaged food for banks across Texas.   Our group of volunteers were tasked with sorting, inspecting, and cleaning boxed and canned goods. When food is donated, volunteers have to check every can and box for defects, holes, tears, or water damage. We were also given a list of items that the Food Bank was not able to accept like baby food and products, expired items past a certain date, and weight-loss items.  In the video below, you can see me and the other women at my station inspecting the inner plastic bags of cake mix to make sure they were acceptable to pass along. The boxes then have to be resealed and then wiped with a mild bleach solution to sanitize. The items are then placed on a conveyor belt down to the sorters at the end of the line who placed the items in boxes b...

The next morning after my San Antonio excursion, I wanted to keep exploring downtown Austin. I started off at Mozart's for breakfast again and I got a vegetable empanada with some hibiscus mint iced tea. After checking my emails and maps, I ventured down south to the South Congress shopping strip. This is one cool shopping street, and you can see the actual city congress building: Most building on this street are boutiques, eateries, churches, and some hotels, and if you wander down the side streets, you'll find tiny antique shops and tucked-away food trailers. I stopped for a bite to eat at the restaurant at what seemed like the end of the strip, Magnolia Cafe South . I ordered garlic bread and nachos with avocado and a fried egg. Everything was delicious and the atmosphere was friendly and welcoming. The decor in here made me nostalgic for the PaperMoon Diner in Baltimore! My nachos: This is nacho' cleanest food to eat... Ha! *    *   ...