xiokat: { postcards } Austin, Texas + a few favorite shops

A few photos from our trip to Austin. It was a blast!

Like I said in my previous post, the girls did a great job in planning an awesome weekend. We found our house through airbnb and it was in the perfect location. We were a short cab ride away from Downtown and Congress Avenue. We had amazing meals at La Condesa and Lenoir, and ate some of the best breakfast tacos at Marias. We visited the vineyards in Hill Country and tasted their wine; we took a fun dance class and, since the springs were closed for maintenance, we took a walk along the river and saw the most amazing views of downtown.

All the activities and spending time with my friends, made for an unforgettable trip. But one of the things Katty and I definitely wanted to do while in Austin was visit a few shops, meet the owners and get some inspiration for the Xiokat shop we ~~hope~~ plan to open one day. Since my cousin was in Austin for work, I came in a day early and stayed with her. She took me to Take Heart - a gorgeous shop full of locally crafted and Japanese goods. We met the owner's mother and talked a little bit about how she got started and her love for Japan. After, we stopped by Olive Vintage, a shop I had found online that carries a lot of the independent designers we admire. Later that weekend, Katty and I visited Spartan, another shop we'd been dreaming of visiting, and stumbled upon Busy-Being, a beautifully curated shop in East Austin. All the shops carry unique pieces that are displayed so wonderfully, something that is so important in these kind of shops. You can spend hours wandering and admiring and still come across something new after several rounds in the store. We treated ourselves to something from each store, some pieces that we had been admiring from afar, some new that we found that day. All to remind us of this trip and our shop dreams.