El Arroyo Promises Great Soup (Tequila with Lime)

Yesterday, I had the privilege of eating at an Austin staple, El Arroyo. If you aren't from around here, you might just assume it's just another taco place. But it hosts a snarky sign that alone makes it worth the trip. And the sign didn't disappoint last Saturday. 

Before I dive into the tasty salsa and margs, I have to dwell a bit more on this sign [because I love a good story]. The sign is updated daily with witty remarks, comments on current events, puns, etc. - a tradition that started back in 1975 when the restaurant opened. 

According to an article by the Austin Business Journal back in 2014, I discovered the process to plan content for the sign was incredibly similar to the process we use to plan our client's social media content calendars. A small group of the restaurant group's leadership plots out a calendar, leaving spots open / flexibility to comment on cultural moments. Such as this post on Brexit. 

Borrowed from the El Arroyo's Twitter account @ElArroyoATX

According to our bartender, all staff members are encouraged to submit suggestions for the sign, but it's a pretty tough selection process. And they have to be a bit careful about how snarky they can get. 

Overall, the margaritas were great and I loved they had a "skinny" version. The salsa was zesty and thick and the chips thick, warm and crispy. But, unfortunately, I have to admit that the rest of food was mediocre, and could be the result of a new menu from new ownership in 2012. 

While I may not be back for dinner, I'll certainly be back for their happy hour deals every day of the week, including $1 happy hour margaritas on Thursday, $1 Dos XX on Monday. 

Read more about the restaurant. 

And check out more of myviewfrom_ other taco places in Austin here. 

Sunday Kolache Quest | River City Donut

Today, when my fella suggested donuts and kolaches for breakfast, I was intrigued. Despite living in Texas for almost 8 months now, I've never eaten or bought kolaches. I know for all you Texas residents out there reading this, that sounds like blasphemy. While everyone else is saying, kolaches? what? According to the Smithsonian a kolach is a Czech dessert pastry filled with fruit. Well, over time in Central Texas the recipe has evolved into a pastry wrapped around a sausage or other such meat. 

I digress... So, despite my no-wheat diet, and my attempts to be healthier, I volunteer to take on the donut/ kolache quest. After all, it's my goal to immerse myself in Austin. And [borrowed from some discussions at work]... Mornings suck. Sometimes you just have to treat yourself in the morning to get off on the right foot. 

After some quick Googling, I landed on River City Donut, a local donut joint with a 4.8 rating on Google and 4 stars on Yelp and a menu of donuts, breakfast tacos and kolaches. I'm impressed. So I hop in my car and am off. 

Seven minutes later, I pull up to a small, unassuming shop at the end of the strip mall. I ignore the drive-thru sign on the side of the building. I clearly wasn't going to get the full experience going through the drive-thru. 

I walk in and a sweet lady, the owner of the shop, asks for my order. I'm suddenly overwhelmed by the options and tell her I need a minute. 

Seriously, this is only one of the cases! 

After answering all of my newbie questions, I finally made my decision and chose a sausage & cheese kolache, a donut with marble icing and a strawberry smoothie (for me). 

Smoothie was delish. I didn't taste the donut or kolache, but they got rave reviews from my guy. And I couldn't think of a better way to start off my Sunday. 

[In case this post has inspired you to your own personal kolache quest, check out this list from Austin Eater.] 

For other foodie shots and experiences of Austin and other locations, check out myviewfrom_ on Instagram. 

What I'm Looking For

"I hope you find what you're looking for." That's one of the last things one of my friends from Chicago told me before I moved down to Austin. 

Recently that phrase has been ringing in my head. I hope so too. But what am I looking for? And will this move really help me find it? 

Well... I'm not really in the market for a ton of new friends (meaning I have some really great ones that are irreplaceable) not that I'm not going to make friends here. I'm not looking for a place to call my home because I have 2 homes really - Chicago & KC. I'm not really looking for a career path (I have a pretty good one). And I am certainly not looking for a husband - Lord knows if I'll ever be ready for that again. 

So maybe I'm really looking to find myself - or really a purpose/direction for myself. I moved to Austin because I wanted to go somewhere by myself - for myself - and prove that I could do that. And I did. 

So now what? I guess I want to define myself. I realized in Chicago that I didn't want to be defined by my relationship or my job. But I was falling into that trap with so many distractions. I guess Austin gives me the freedom to redefine myself and figure out who I am. No one here really knows me and not really knowing many people, I find that I have a lot more free time to "figure things out." ;) 

Sounds daunting, I know. But I'm giving myself small goals but not a ton of structure. And, in parallel, I'm focusing my efforts on finding my favorite taco place here in Austin.  

"In the end, we'll all become stories." -Margaret Atwood

I stumbled upon this quote while trying to find a healthy heavy appetizer on Pinterest for NYE. It inspired me enough to stop, pin it (of course), take a screen grab and interrupt my plans of watching the Blackhawks to write about it later in the evening.

That quote precisely describe my mentality over the last three years of my life. Prior to that, I had bought into the fact that I'd live in Kansas City, married, working at the same agency I'd been at for the majority of my career. But then, with my divorce, plans changed and suddenly there were no plans. I didn't like that at first. In fact, I was absolutely devastated that I had no idea what to do with my life.

But after I stopped wallowing and feeling sorry for myself, I turned my heartbreak into a new look on life. If I wasn't going to live happily ever after as I had originally planned, what was I going to do to leave my mark on this world, my industry, my friends and family, etc?

You might think by reading this that I immediately signed up for the peace corps and started volunteering at a local soup kitchen five times a week. Well not exactly, although that would have been a positive option.

But I took a look at myself and my life and started to shape my own story. It was unconscious at first, but slowly I became aware of what I was doing.

My friends and coworkers who stood by me in during my struggle, became my family. So for a year, I spent my focus on orchestrating every scenario to hang out with them more, happy hours, a softball league, family dinner night, trivia night, etc. I never missed a birthday, shower, wedding, etc. if I could help it. No matter how broke, exhausted or ridiculous it seemed. I wanted to show my support in return.

Then I got the opportunity to grow my career by moving to our brand-new Chicago office with the potential to get promoted and build our relationship with the clients and partners. It was a bit of a crazy ride and incredible challenge, but did indeed push me to be a better account person and . I got opportunities in Chicago that I never would have gotten career-wise in Kansas City. And I was still connected back to Kansas City, my home.

And to help shape my personal happiness (and frankly distract me from being lonely), I took advantage of every potential trip, event and experience. At first, it was hard for me to be without a husband or family. But then I came to realize that I should take advantage of this time where I had the freedom to do what I wanted and didn't have to consider the impact to anyone else. I no longer had an excuse about why I couldn't do something - other than I didn't want to - so if I did want to, I found a way to make it happen. And it was awesome. I got to go to new places and experience once-in-a-lifetime opportunities. And I brought my friends along for the ride (or sometimes they brought me along for it). In a nutshell, as Bud Light puts it so eloquently, I was #upforwhatever

The opportunity in Austin came at a perfect time in my career and my personal growth. I suddenly could envision myself going off on my own and doing something without a huge support system on the ground. This thought that months earlier terrified me, suddenly excited me. I felt exhilarated thinking about the opportunity to decorate my own place, make my own friends, go to a new agency and make my own life.

It dawned on me that this is an opportunity where I have complete control over this chapter of my life. And it feels extremely scary but also pretty cool. And a risk that most people probably won't take. But I don't want to be like most people.

I didn't want to be like most people when I choose to go to college at Mizzou, knowing only one other person and having very little knowledge of Missouri, while my peers all went to colleges in Illinois, Iowa or Michigan. But it worked out (and was the best decision of my life) as it changed my trajectory positively and gave me a ton of memories to build my story.

Ultimately, in the end, I want to have a unique and unexpected story. And one that involves a lot of people, places and new adventures.

I've Been There, Burnt That (Again)

Well, I’m back again for another attempt at the blog, spurred by my new adventure to Austin, TX. 

The first time around, I hadn’t quite found my voice or my purpose. I’ve over the past almost year, I realized that not every post has to be about crashing and burning, because while funny at times, wasn’t really what I was all about. 

And it got hard to fit everything into a small, narrow box of situations where I’ve been burnt or burned something.

Don’t get me wrong, the toast burning mishaps and the challenges were fun.And this revelation doesn’t mean my blog will be super-serious, because I’ve learned that you can’t take life to seriously.

But I’ve realized “I’ve Been There Burnt That” is representative of life in general and not just the lows. So my blog will be representative of that -my life, my career, my move to Austin, my relationships, etc.

Before I was writing for you – or rather what I thought you were interested in. Or were about you. But now I’ve decided to write for me. I know that sounds selfish, but I got to make this fun for me to keep at it. I’m in the midst of reading Big Magic, a book by Elizabeth Gilbert (the lady who wrote Eat, Pray, Love), a quirky narrative about how to live a creative life. She states that if writing is your thing, you should never write for other people, you should write for you. And you should not be afraid if people will like it. Because it doesn't matter. 

So that’s what I’m doing. Writing for me, and not being afraid. And I hope you like it.  ;P

And living my creative life will not be limited to writing. For me it’s about writing, art, music and a mind-set of living. And I intend to reignite that spark with my move to Austin, even if it means starting a few fires and getting burnt along the way.

I've Been Burnt...

So I know I have been MIA for awhile & before that been a bit more serious.

So for those who preferred my lighthearted stories & ridiculous predicaments, here's a good one for you.

Guys if you've ever wondered if you should shave the scruff on your face. The answer is yes. Always shave. Scruff is rough. And can do major damage to sensitive skin [like mine].

Seriously I went on a date last Saturday and my chin is STILL irritated a week later. At least it no longer looks like a 12 year old boy's face during puberty.

I consulted the internet for some home remedies the day after and the suggestions were... wait for it... I can't make this stuff up: 1) Ask your man to shave, 2) Deal with it & buy some hydrocortisone cream & lather up, 3) Stop making out with or dating the person.

Since it was only date #2, I'm going to go ahead and go with option #3. And not just because of the scruff.

But for all you single men out there on Tinder who are reading this blog [I'm guessing approx. -5 people] if you want a swipe right, you better be posting clean-shaven photos.

Danny's Finding KC | #GreatIdeas Series

Danny Schumann is probably one of the busiest people that I know. But somehow he manages to be a fantastic dad, a good friend, lead the social insights team at VML KC and put his hobbies into practice through FindingKansasCity.com And why? Because he wants to. 

He took over FindingKansasCity.com about a year ago from a former co-worker who had started the site to review and profile shops, restaurants, bars and other culturally relevant things in Kansas City. He took on the site because he had a great vision about where it could go - but also frankly to keep practicing the skills he had taught himself over the past few years. And his love for Kansas City and discovering all the great things about it helps :) 

How it began. 

In college, he had the opportunity to purchase Adobe Creative Suite and take a class to learn the basics for design.  

"[From my optional design class in college] I learned a base, but 90% of what I learned happened by practicing and looking up small tactics one step at a time." 

At his first job, he bought a book, How to Build a Website, to learn how to code [Ironic, isn't it?] And chapter by chapter, trial by trial was able to learn how to code. 

From there he just kept practicing. And then he got the opportunity to take on FindingKansasCity.com. 


FindingKansasCity.com

Danny says the site had a great base and following, but he had plans to make it bigger. During the Kansas City Royals playoff run, the nation was hungry for Kansas City news and everyone rallied around the city. 

In that timeframe, FindingKansasCity.com: 

• Was featured in a Huffpost article 
• Profiled and partnered with local retailers to promote KC gear and link back to the site
• And activated its social media presence on Facebook and re-invigorated activation on Twitter  

And in the past few months, Danny's managed to find the time to rebrand and re-work the look and feel of the site, resurface and create new content, increase the search traffic to the site and being tweeted by local media. 

What's ahead? 

"[What I've done with FindingKansasCity.com] is not the finish line, but it's my next set of challenges to see what I can do and force myself to keep practicing." 

FindingKansasCity.com has incredible opportunity with the growth and revitalization of the city. So I know that whether it be this project or another, Danny will be successful and make his friends and especially his son, proud.