Austin City Limits 2013 Lineup

The lineup for this years Austin City Limits Music Festival is officially out!

Despite having already purchased our wristbands back in October for $50(!!!) each during the secret sale, this morning I went ahead and purchased two General Admission tickets for friends. 

After last years festival, I seriously wondered if I was growing out of the desire to attend. But then I went and scored $50 wristbands and was all like, OK fine, I'll go again next year. 

But now as I look at the lineup I'm all like, I saw Kings of Leon in 2009 and Vampire Weekend in 2010 AT THIS FESTIVAL. And Muse was at SXSW 2011, another Austin festival. 

It'll be fun to see them again though. 

Honestly the most exciting bands for me are Depeche Mode and The Cure. I hope they play on the same night so that we can go ahead and deem that night, 80s Night.   

That Time I Needed Facebook

A few months ago I got a beautiful wedding invitation in the mail. I later realized I would not be able to attend said wedding in Houston so I regretfully informed the bride. Instead I browsed the couples wedding registry and decided on the perfect gift.

This gift order should have been delivered last week, a few days before the wedding. I tracked both packages and discovered they had been left on the doorstep. Not ideal considering packages get snatched off doorsteps all the time.

So now what?

It's the week after my friends wedding and I want to reach out to her to say congratulations and let her know I'd sent two packages. We were classmates since before middle school but I no longer have her phone number or email.

Then I remembered, Facebook. We are friends on Facebook and that's how most of our interaction has occurred over these past several years.

Just when I'm trying to reduce the presence of social media accounts in my life by deactivating my Facebook account and ignoring my Twitter feed, I realize Facebook is the only way to get in touch with this particular friend without asking for her cell number from mutual friends.

That's the thing about Facebook, this type of interaction with old friends is made easier. I've gone numerous years without this friends phone number and I don't think my current situation is reason enough to ask for it. And an email may go direct to a spam folder, never to be read.

All I really need to do is send her a quick, direct message and Facebook allows that to happen easily. No if, and, or buts about it. Heck, Facebook probably even shows me a read receipt (or is that Myspace I'm thinking of?)

I imagine my friend is currently on her honeymoon sipping margaritas and getting a tan. So that buys me some time but, eventually I plan on reactivating my Facebook account. womp womp

I may not have willpower when it comes to denying a hot fudge sundae or forcing myself to workout, but I do plan on setting limits when it comes to viewing Facebook because I will not allow myself to become consumed with it again.

Take me back Facebook, will you?

Social Media Problems

Lately, I've read a lot about people quitting Twitter and Facebook or taking breaks from social media in general. Even if it's only after 5pm.

And then all of a sudden I "realize" I'm checking every social media account I have (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram) every free moment that I have.

Wake up - Check Twitter
Red light - Check Instagram
About to prepare dinner - Check Twitter because it'll be awhile
Commercial during Real Housewives of wherever - Check Facebook
Before bedtime ritual - Check all of the above

Why do I check these accounts so often? I hardly tweet anymore. Most of the tweets I read I don't really care to respond to. And Facebook. Ugh I L O A T H E most of what is on there and I've even gone so far as to hide every game and block every invitation possible and yet I still hate it.

So why do I still log on?

Sure, humans are naturally nosy curious. We can all admit that.

But do I really care about some of the most mundane activities that people post? The truth is that no, I don't care that the barista at Starbucks spelled your name wrong. And I'm sure you don't care that traffic is terrible and I'd rather be on vacation. So I'll spare you that tweet and Facebook post.

You're welcome.

I feel like social media users are posting too much, too often. It's like we are all living our own reality TV series without an actual camera crew following us around.

But I have a dilemma. I have a friend in Spain and love to see her photos. And then there's my new nephew that is growing so fast.

I want to see pictures and posts associated with those topics. But there isn't a way to filter everything else out. There isn't even a way to delete "friends" without hurting feelings. Even if I delete those "friends" from high school that I haven't spoken to since high school, close friends and family that I would stay connected to are also guilty of re-posting stupid pictures and liking things that flood my feed.

So what's left? Should I deactivate these accounts? Delete them?

It's been quite a while since I've scrolled through my Twitter feed. And recently, I deactivated my Facebook account. It kind of feels good to be free from these accounts. Why? Because I am not only paying attention to what is going on around me but I am also participating in the moment I am in with the people that matter the most. (Instagram I can't let go of so easily. However if you post a hideous duck face I will most likely unfollow you.)

I've been to dinner with that friend that constantly checks social media accounts and is more concerned with activity on those accounts than the conversation we were supposed to be having. And it sucked. In fact, I haven't met that friend for dinner since because I felt like it would be a waste of my time.

I know I'm not the only one whose been seated across the social media addict. How does one deal with that? Is it my right to ask the friend to put the phone down? Will the friend be capable of putting the phone down?

SXSW 2013

Every year SXSW takes over Austin. Every year I find myself drawn to attend events all over town. But this year was different. I wanted nothing to do with official or unofficial SXSW events.

That is until Michael won a pair of wristbands from our favorite local radio station, 101X!

Despite winning the pair of wristbands, I was still hesitant about claiming them and attending any events. We had other things to take care of throughout the weekend and the thought of putting them off, yet again, wasn't too appealing.

That is until I got an email from Camille at 1000heads marketing agency inviting me and a guest to The Belmont Music Showcase to check out the awesome lineup and the Skype Mobile Lounge as VIP guests! 

How could I say no to that invitation?

I couldn't. So off we went.

We picked up our wristbands during the week and attended a few shows. On Saturday, we got downtown about mid afternoon so we could pop in and out of venues before making our way to the Skype Mobile Lounge at The Belmont. 

Once we arrived, Camille greeted us at the door where she applied our wristbands. As we entered the lounge we were greeted by the Skype Team with friendly conversation, food, drinks, cell phone recharge stations, and goodie bags all courtesy of Skype!  

After snacking on some items and checking out the items in our goodie bag (which included a Jawbone Jambox!) we got some drinks from the bar and headed out to enjoy the bands.  

Colt Ford

Capital Cities

Despite the great lineup and catchy music, Michael and I knew we didn't want to close the night out at a terribly late hour. So we started the trek back to our vehicle. 

As we were walking, we remembered that we parked behind the Doritos #BoldStage. Last year we saw several great bands at this stage and we remembered that Doritos offers lots of snacks and drinks to the crowd. So we figured we could end our night with a Doritos snack.   

Upon entering we were greeted with this site.....

Light show heaven. 

I'm a big fan of light shows/lasers at music events. 

They take any performance to another level when done well. 

I basically had to be pulled away from the stage so we could cross the street and head home. 

Michael and I had a great time at SXSW!

Big thanks to Camille at 1000heads marketing for inviting me and to Skype for all the benefits of VIP!

In My Kitchen

Of all my Pinterest boards, only one {Tried and Tested Recipes I Recommend} is exclusively for those pins I have actually put to use.

I have another board, Food!,  that is exclusively for pins I come across that make me salivate.

These recipes are some of my favorites and they are healthy-ish. I say "ish" because I don't count calories or carbs or grams of fat but I am certain these are healthier than a Big Mac and fries.

Creamy Zucchini Pesto Pasta with Chicken features homemade pesto, spinach high fiber noodles and thinly sliced zucchini. 

Source: slenderkitchen.com via Sandra on Pinterest

Sesame Chicken I served with a small portion of brown rice and vegetable stir-fry. I'm pretty great at making Asian style food, if I do say so myself.

Source: slenderkitchen.com via Sandra on Pinterest

This Crock Pot Chicken Tortilla Soup is by far one of my favorites. All the chopping gets done the night before and all I have to do in the morning before I go to work is dump all the ingredients in the Crock Pot and it cooks on low for eight hours. I even add a few extra ingredients like black beans (drained and rinsed) and diced squash.  

Source: tablefortwoblog.com via Sandra on Pinterest

This Spicy Tomato Mussels recipe is so good. I feel like I'm eating at a fancy restaurant when I make this. I pretty much follow the recipe as is, except I sub Firemans #4 beer instead of the wine. I also add some spice Italian Sausage and de-veined tail-off shrimp.

Source: paleo-project.com via Sandra on Pinterest

Someone make this and tell me you love it as much as I do!

If you are trying to be more aware of the things you buy, here are some I encourage you start with:

• Try to purchase items, like Chicken Broth and canned tomatoes, with No Salt Added or Low Sodium. Have you seen the amount of sodium in some of these products?! Crazy high. 
• Substitute whole-grain or high-fiber pasta for the traditional stuff. (several different people didn't even notice I made this pasta substitution!) 
• Switch to organic free range chicken and buy less ground beef. Try ground turkey instead.