Austin City Limits!!

So I went to Austin last last weekend for Austin City Limits...part of the reason I've been MIA...and I had a BLAST!!! This was a three-day music festival featuring 130 bands...yep 130...at Zilker Park. I think the thing I enjoyed most was the food. OMGGGGG the food was so GOOOOOOD. I didn't eat anything that didn't BANG the whole time I was down there. I went with my bestfriend, and we are definitely planning to go back for the food and to see more of the city since most of our time was spent at the festival. I'm not telling this story Coachella style...that was a lot of work. Call it laziness and I've been sick so there lol.

Around the grounds.

The first day we had a 30 minute walk from the car to the park...we didn't repeat that mistake again the next two days lol. The weather was great the first day though, so I didn't really mind it.

Cool installation... 

They had a marketplace that sold art, clothing, jewelry etc... 

I bought the small version of the piece below. I love it. So my style.

Oh and let me just tell you the weatherman (aka the iPhone weather app and the Accuweather app) was a LIE lol. Saturday, it said we would get a little bit of rain and it POURED!! So we ran from the stage we were at to the nearest place for shelter...I had fun doing that though lol. I'm literally laughing out loud right now as I type this.

And this is what the grass became :( and we were wearing sandals. There were soggy Toms all over the place lol.

Definitely went and bought ponchos after this day, some chairs, and I bought me some rainboots but because the weatherman is a lie lol, the sun was shining ALL day the next day even though it showed it would rain for hours. It looked like this the entire day...

Cloudless. Then I remembered later that I specifically prayed the day before that despite what the weather shows, let the sun shine and there be no rain. The weatherman can't compete with the power of prayer lol. I should've maybe asked for overcast. That day was hot. 

The rain didn't stop the show however.

They had a huge frame you could stand in and take pictures. It framed the park and the city in the background. There was always a really long line to take a picture in it and I wasn't about that life lol.

There was also always a big crowd outside the ACL Festival spot that sold the official tees and things...which is probably why I don't own a 2012 ACL t-shirt lol. I wish I did get one though.

Man...speaking of crowds. Friday was cool because, I'm assuming, many of the festival goers were still on their way or had to work, but Saturday and Sunday -_-...

They sold way too many tickets. Next year they're changing it to two weekends and hopefully they wont sell as many tickets each weekend. Don't be greedy ACL lol. About all those flags in this picture. I spent the first day wondering why people had them then I finally decided to ask someone and they simply explained..."So our friends can find us." Me: Oh : /. lol I was expecting a more interesting answer. I hope this never catches on at any other festival because 1) those flags are annoying when they're blocking your view of the stage and 2) get a cell phone lol and 3) see number one. This "flag" caught my attention lol...

They had a game of twister going...it was after the rain though so it was muddy. Nope not about that life lol.

I was also introduced to boxed water at ACL lol...they're too cool for bottles. I couldn't bang with it due to some of my idiosyncrasies lol. 

To the part that matters most...

The music.

The first person we saw was Esperanza Spalding and she was AMAZIIIING! She came out playing the bass guitar and then she broke out the double bass...at least I think that's what it's called lol. Her band was also great and she was sangin'.

Ventured over to another stage to see...or hear A-Trak, a DJ from Montreal do his thing. He was playing dubstep and everyone over there was very hype lol. 

We also saw Weezer and Thievery Corporation...no pics for that. A lot of my pics just weren't coming out great lol. We saw Florence + the Machine...

...she's up there somewhere lol. This was the main stage. It's hard to get close if you don't get to the stage early.

They had a choir out there one day...The Baylor Choir and they sounded awesome.  

KRIT...

At other various points in the day we discovered British soul singer Michael Kiwanuka, Space Capone, and Lee Fields & The Expressions. All pretty awesome. And The Roots...

....buuuut we left because it started raining during their set and we both felt as though we had seen them enough times to miss it this time. I turned around and snapped that during the walk away lol. They started off with some gogo in honor of the late great Chuck Brown...that made me happy. 

The last day we saw my boo, Gary Clark Jr!! Here's a little footage of him scratching on the guitar. I think he stole this from me. I used to do it on my guitar all the time because I couldn't actually play it lol...I still can't. But I'll let him have it.

We saw Thundercat...

The Weeknd was supposed to be there, but for reasons I never cared to research lol, he couldn't make it. He was, however, in Austin that weekend because we went to go see him at the Austin Music Hall.

We saw a little of Ruthie Foster and were forced to watch Iggy & Stooges...by me lol...because I wanted to be in a good position for the RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS!!!!!!!!!! I was so excited to be seeing them, but it also felt unreal so I wasn't showing the full extent of my excitement because in my head I kept saying "I'm not watching the Red Hot Chili Peppers right now. These aren't the same people from the videos I used to order on The Box."lol Some snippets...

LOL @ the dude who started singing too soon and his friend that reprimanded him for doing so hahahaha!! That super bright light to the right kinda killed my footage :(. Looks better on my phone though.

Food Porn.

 FOOOOD!! Our other major reason for going to Austin...and part of the reason we are going back lol. Everything was super good and I probably ate some of the best food I ever tasted in my life down there. One cool thing about ACL festival was that a lot of the food options were popular local spots, so we got to kill two birds with one stone.

...Chicago dog from Frank. Started things of nice...and easy *in my Tina Turner/Angela Bassett voice* lol.

...the Chuychanga from TexMex spot, Chuy's. *drool* It was SO good.

So I was really excited about this and I was in the process of trying to bite the wrap part down to even it with the avocado and then I realized I didn't take a picture lol. THIS is the Hot & Crunchy Avocado cone from The Mighty Cone. The breading on the outside of the Avocado...yum. There's slaw in there and that mango jalapeno sauce...*sigh*. It was so good. I would never think to put any of that stuff together let alone fry some avocado lol. I love avocados. 

Korean BBQ beef Tacos from Chi'Lantro BBQ. So this looks like dirt, grass and dirty french fries all wrapped up in this picture but I promise it was really good lol.

FRESH ice cream cookie sandwich from Tiff's Treats...best one I ever had in my life lol.

The Pumpkinator from the very popular Hey Cupcake...it was great. It's seasonal so get in where you fit in lol.

...Chopped beef sandwich from The Salt Lick. I don't know if there's a meat seasoning class everyone in Texas takes or what...but they all got it lol. I bit this one too before remembering to take a pic. Tried to hide it on the right side lol.

Cheeseburger and sweet potato fries from Wholly Cow where they serve "Local Organic Pasture Raised Hormone & Chemical Free Grass-Fed Beef" and locally grown fresh produce. Definitely one of the freshest tasting burgers I ever ate and after I ate it, I didn't feel like I ate a burger. Burgers normally get me DOWN lol. I felt like I had a banana after eating that. I was ready go hike or something lol.

That thang right there was the Tipsy Texan from Franklin BBQ. And this is what happened to it...

Ok so about Franklin BBQ. It opened at 11am...we got there at 9:45am and were like 80th in line lol...That's how good it was. The Tipsy Texan was chopped beef, sliced sausages and slaw...those were some of the best sausages I ever tasted in my life lol. And this is what my bestfriend got...

Ribs, brisket, baked beans and some potato salad. It was good...I sampled some lol. Well, that was the grand finale as far as food goes and now I'm on a fruit & veggie binge lol.

Austin was a lot of fun and we're definitely making plans to return!! This pic pretty much sums up the time we had...

Nope...I don't know him but he wanted to be in my picture and I was ok with that lol. See you soon Austin!!