The blog posts. The pictures. The videos. The RSVPs. Keeping track of everything in the past few weeks hasn't been easy. I knew covering the South by Southwest Interactive Festival and Conference would be challenging, but I think I still underestimated the amount of work and energy it would take to do it properly.
And boy did it wipe me out.
We went to Port Aransas/Corpus Christi on Sunday to recharge (I didn't even take my laptop!) and now we're back. Here's a quick recap (follow the links to read/see what I posted) in case you weren't skipping and jumping around Statesman.com, Austin360.com and Twitter to follow as I was doing it:
Wine Library TV video blogger and marketing guru
Gary Vaynerchuk and I did a video ahead of
his awesome SXSW panel.
Tyler Florence was in town
promoting his line of baby foods.
I covered SXSW panels on
how social media is changing how we think about our "friends," what it was like
blogging as a teen in the '90s when everyone didn't have an online journal, why
professional blogging is bloodsport for women, why
Web 2.0 is a woman's world, why we should try to
do something epic with our online lives instead of create gimmicky projects, what
new trends we'll see for mobile technology (ie buying groceries with our phones) and how the Internet is
making sustainable food easier to access.
I, along with Austin360, Whole Foods Market and the Go Texan wine program,
hosted a party for food and wine bloggers on March 16 that was a huge success. About 80 food and wine bloggers and their guests ate food from Jesse Griffiths of Dai Due Supper Club and Tyson Cole, above, of Uch (that's Maggie of Maggie's Austin, a local food blog). Hope to make this a yearly event.
Over on my food blog, Relish Austin, I wrote about
eating pork belly for breakfast at the Uchi SXSW party, Hudson's on the Bend chef Jeff Blank
opening a trailer to sell the famous chicken cone and Rachael Ray's big SXSW party, which featured the New York Dolls and the Hold Steady, both of whom Erin and I mingled with in the artists' lounge.
Did you see the
video Rachael and I did? She's a sweet, hard-working girl whose constant cheer still annoys most people, even her fans. Shorter than me, but dressed cute as a button in her best western wear.
And a personal highlight was speaking on a SXSW
panel on food blogging. I did a
live chat with some of the bloggers the week before the festival, and when they were in town, we chowed on crawfish and cupcakes. My new friend Emily, receiving her very own plastic bib, right,
wrote about it for Gourmet.com.
Did I mention we celebrated Ian's birthday with a lovely dinner at Ranch 616?
Whew. When it was all said and done, we headed east, to meet a man about some lamb (or rather for a story about a man with some lamb) and then to the beach, where Julian played in the sand and waves for the very first time. (He's also started drumming with Daddy in the garage.) More photos to come when I get caught back up at work (ie, next year :)).
(Dying eggs with a toddler is a good time, just don't expect the eggs to escape unscathed.)
Over on my food blog, Relish Austin, I wrote about eating pork belly for breakfast at the Uchi SXSW party, Hudson's on the Bend chef Jeff Blank opening a trailer to sell the famous chicken cone and Rachael Ray's big SXSW party, which featured the New York Dolls and the Hold Steady, both of whom Erin and I mingled with in the artists' lounge.
And a personal highlight was speaking on a SXSW panel on food blogging. I did a live chat with some of the bloggers the week before the festival, and when they were in town, we chowed on crawfish and cupcakes. My new friend Emily, receiving her very own plastic bib, right, wrote about it for Gourmet.com.
Proof of the fun we had outside today, raking and planting and generally enjoying the yard in 86 degree weather. A dirty toddler is a happy toddler.
Look for a post on Relish Austin in the next few days about our ever-growing garden. We added tomatoes, zucchini, cucumbers, chard (I know that on is a long shot this far in the year) and few kinds of pepper. Sunflowers found a home along the fence.
This month's Addie's Eat-Up (formerly Appetizers with Addie) was at the Dart Bowl, where we stuffed ourselves with delicious chicken fried steak and cheese enchiladas. The nicest waitstaff around (or at least ours was :)). Julian's full diaper made bowling a little more colorful. (Thanks, Marshall, for the photo!)
My kombucha-making is coming along. A strong SCOBY was growing on a smaller jar of kombucha I was brewing, so I added it (and the well-developed vinegar-tasting liquid is helped form) to the mama jar, which was still full of a liquid that was still too close to sweet tea to resemble kombucha.
(Julian before devouring two cupcakes at his friend Addie's birthday.)
(Through Skype, Chelsea, Kenny and my parents 
(Incredible sunset after Thanksgiving at Tom's)
