halloweekend in ATX

bits and pieces include:

austin texas is my favorite city in the US of A.

new life goal is to grow old nestled into the hills near lake travis.

i've been on a white wine kick lately... it's odd, but let's go with it.

howling fantods also come in the form of edward gorey spoof tarot cards.

recipe invention goals:

"accurate replica of fricano's meatballs," 

"how-midestern-can-i-make-this-cranberry-salad,"

"some kind of apple and possibly other fruit crisp"

"suspicious casserole"

snapshots from our road trip north [part one]

SANTORINIBOAT!!!

there are a lot of ways you can travel between the greek islands if you ever decide to make the best choice ever and go.  the best methods probably depend on how much time you have in greece to spend getting from place to place.  steve and i experimented with almost every option, standard ferry, high speed ferry, and a flight via agean airlines.

more on options 2 and 3 later, but if you are planning to travel from athens to santorini i must insist you take the standard (read: not high speed) ferry.  when i booked our tickets on the blue star ferries out to santorini i was a bit worried by the 8 hour sailing time.  not only does 8 hours on a boat seem potentially claustrophobic, but when you're in a place as amazing as greece you don't want to waste an extra moment cooped up en route to your destination.

little did i know the blue star ferries are like a day trip attraction unto themselves.  this is not your average ferry boat.  our ship, the blue star delos (though we booked our tickets for the blue star naxos so i'm not sure why the name swap) was really more like a luxury cruise line.  besides it being the only ferry with open air seating (as opposed to the high speed lines) we had no idea it would also be stopping at ports on the islands of paros, naxos, and ios before docking in santorini.  basically we got a espresso and photo filled boat tour of the cyclades before getting to our second hotel.  it was such a wonderful surprise!

after a very early morning cab ride from our parthenon hotel to the port of pireaus, we watched the sunrise over athens as we headed out into the agean sea and ate breakfast and lunch on the ferry getting the grand tour of other islands we know we'll need to return and check out.  since we were up so early it was a welcome benefit that there were coffee shops all over the boat and the weather shifted from a pleasant morning breeze to sun that made the water around us glitter.  the view from the ferry approaching santorini was absolutely breathtaking and when we rode in our hotel shuttle up from the port to fira we got our first unbelievable view of the caldera from over the cliff.

more to come!!

san antonio - {grams}

we became hardcore road-trippers on sunday when we decided to take a day trip to san antonio in 100+ degree heat.  we still had an amazing time on the river walk and walking through the galleries and restaurants.  we opted to split queso and a dos-arita from rita's on the river and after a little bird-related mishap, and lots of sweat we still successfully enjoyed our afternoon in san antonio.

namely, we have a great weekend itinerary planned for a future overnight mini-vacation.  it's a long haul to do in one day though.  but look!  we went to the alamo!  it feels good to be checking out our new digs.

hope everybody has a great week!!

firmoo eyewear [sponsored]

here's a fun fact about me:  i'm legally blind without corrective lenses.  the world is murky when you're very myopic.  the "how many fingers am i holding up" test?  nada.  those aren't fingers, that is a fleshy colored mass at the end of what context dictates must be your arm.

so imagine my excitement when firmoo.com contacted me last month and asked me to showcase a pair of their prescription eyewear for my readers.

sometimes when you think something is too good to be true, you're completely correct in your skepticism.  this is not the case with firmoo.  color me blunt:  this website rules.  they have an amazing style selection of glasses, sunglasses, and specialty eyewear and everything is unbelievably priced.  these bad boys i'm wearing?  $39.

i remember when i was in middle school i had an art teacher who rotated between three different pairs of completely adorable glasses.  i remember thinking how much i wanted to be able to change my glasses to fit my style and now the means actually exist to make this happen.  firmoo:  realizing middle school fashion fantasies across the globe.

ok, seriously though.  i'm probably not buying glasses anywhere else from here on out.  the lenses are perfect, the glasses come in the cutest map-printed case, and they ship in no time!  yes, this is blind-person accessory heaven.

like the pair i picked?  you can grab them here, or browse the rest of firmoo's spectacal-ular variety *wink knudge.*