Pursuit seventy five: Recap of 'Road trippin it to Texas'

The road trip to Texas started out with a bang! Blue skies and beautiful clouds encompassed me the whole way there. The route was a nice change compared to the normal I-40 drive to Knoxville, so the seven+ hour drive seemed to fly by...

Here are the beautiful skies that I encountered on the road

The Garmin Nuvi GPS became my new best friend on this trip. Although I have traveled on several other occasions with a GPS in the car, this was the first time that I road tripped it alone with a GPS... and it was AWESOME! The GPS allowed me to confidently get lost in Austin and Dallas (getting lost is my expression for touring myself around a new city). I successfully got honked at, was given a hand gesture, and was told by a mall security cop that I failed to completely stop at a stop sign in the parking lot. It sure is hard work being a tourist!

Alas, the beautiful skyline of downtown Austin! I was so excited to learn that Lady Bird Lake runs through downtown Austin. There is an awesome park right beside it as well... great for playing fetch with your dogs (see dogs swimming in pic), running, riding bikes, and whatever other form of exercise tickles your fancy.

'On Your Mark, Get Set, Mooo"

By Dale Whistler

Austin is currently hosting the 2011 CowParade. Cows of all colors, shapes, and sizes have taken over in order to spice up the city, as well as raise money for Dell Children's Medical Center of Central Texas and Superhero Kids Fund. It sure was fun spotting all of the unique cows around the city!

Something unique about Austin, and that I have seen popping up around several other cities such as Atlanta, Georgia are food trailers. This snapshot of Torchy's Tacos was in a parking lot full of other food trailers. Pretty awesome right?? I had the pleasure of nomming down on a delicious burrito from Torchy's.

                                            

A great surprise and unique treat during my visit to Austin was Barton Springs. A natural spring that is smack dab in the middle of the city is a haven for those looking to take a load off from the summer heat. Although the water literally took my breath away for a couple of seconds (seemed like a couple of minutes) when I first jumped in, it was well worth the plunge!

One of the main reasons for my trip down to Texas was to attend the Social Media Club of Austin's monthly meeting. A panel of four speakers answered questions regarding social media business, social media's evolution, and thoughts about the successful implementation of social media into a company's business plan.

I also had the opportunity to finally meet the lovely Stephanie Wonderlin (@swonderlin) in person at the Social Media Club meeting. Check her out on Tweetheart TV!

Besides going down to Austin this past week, I had the opportunity to spend some time with my aunt and uncle in Dallas. I did not really get around to taking photos in Dallas, but the above picture is one of my aunt's photos of me while she was on a solo photo shoot escapade. I like the background in this photo...

Overall, my trip to Texas was quite the success! I was able to catch up with some high school friends, eat lunch with one of my study abroad flat mates, connect with new social media peeps, gain some leads on possible job prospects, hang with family, and tour around two fun cities!

I hope to be back in Texas soon :)

Following my pursuits,

Price

Special thanks to:

Austin's 2011 CowParade: http://cowparadeaustin.com/

Barton Springs: http://www.ci.austin.tx.us/parks/bartonsprings.htm

Social Media Club of Austin: http://socialmediaclub.org/chapter/austin-tx

Stephanie Wonderlin: http://stephaniewonderlin.com/

Pursuit seventy four: HAPPY FRIDAY

Following my pursuits,

Price




Special thanks to:
KC and the Sunshine Band

Pursuit seventy three: Road trippin it to Texas

Today I am headed off for the open road... the open road towards Texas that is! This week I am embarking on a mini business/vaca/exploration trip of Texas. I hope to catch up with family members & old classmates, meet up with one of my study abroad roommates, attend the Social Media Club of Austin's (@SMCAustin) monthly meeting, meet Stephanie Wonderlin (@swonderlin) in person for the first time, explore Austin & Dallas, and meet some people for some meetings... 

Sounds like a lot to accomplish in less than four days, but no matter what happens, it sure will be an adventure!

Be back in a week blogger friends with the skinny on my trip to Texas.

Following my pursuits,

Price

Pursuit seventy two: Shelby Farms Dog Park

Since I have been back in Memphis, I have taken over the role of dog entertainer in my household. Since my parents are at work all day, and my brother recently moved to Brooklyn, it is just three dogs, a cat, and myself hanging out at the house. You might be saying to yourself, "Dang, that is a lot of dogs!"

Have no fear... the Smith household is a sort of "boarding school" or "camp" for animals at the moment. My family likes to call it "Camp Linden". My brother's dog, Gracie, and my dog, Smith are living here for the time being with our family dog and cat.

For today's dog adventure, I decided to spice things up by taking all three pups to the Shelby Farms Dog Park. For me, this park is like the Mecca of all dog parks in Memphis. It is a little hard to find since Shelby Farms is so huge, but once you find it, it is like heaven on earth for dogs.

Three great things about the Shelby Farms Dog Park:
1. It is MASSIVE
2. It has two huge ponds for dogs to swim in
3. All dogs are free to roam around and do whatever they please

Here are some snapshots of Harper, Gracie, and Smith having a blast today at the park!

Following my pursuits,

Price

Special thanks to:

Shelby Farms: http://www.shelbyfarmspark.org/sfpc/front

Pursuit seventy one: Snapshots of the Outer Banks

Below are a few of my favorite snapshots from my trip to the Outer Banks this past week with The Peacocks. Enjoy!

Sea gulls on the way to Ocracroke island

House on Hatteras island

Hatteras & Bodie island lighthouses

Jockey's Ridge

Rope & pelicans

Baby Crocs

Jockey's Ridge

Kite flying on Jockey's Ridge

Bodie island lighthouse

Following my pursuits,

Price

Pursuit seventy: Nags Head, North Carolina

Today I am off for a week of fun and sun in the Outer Banks with The Peacocks! Besides spending time with my best friend and other half, I am super pumped about getting over to the East Coast beaches. I have been dying to get over there for years, so this is fulfilling a dream on my travel list! Lighthouses, more secluded beaches than Florida, and new sites to explore... pricey is jumping with excitement! 

So, I will see you in a week blogger pals! I hope to have a ton of neat pictures to post of the sites and architectural designs that peek my fancy while vacationing. 

Following my pursuits,

Price

Special thanks to:

http://www.townofnagshead.net/

http://www.outerbanks.org/

Pursuit sixty nine: Making a Lamp

Several weeks ago I wrote a post about making fruit smoothies, and mentioned that one of the ingredients was Earth Fare's Organic Apple Juice. The container that the apple juice came in was a 1-gallon glass jug. After using up all of the juice, I thought that the bottle was too neat to recycle, so I started brainstorming on what I could possibly do with the bottle. After thinking for a bit, it hit me... I wanted to make a lamp with the jug!

Having never made a lamp before, I was not really sure where to begin. I am an avid follower of Grace Bonney's Design Sponge blog (http://www.designsponge.com/), and since she is always giving great design and creative advice, I decided to contact her via Twitter (@designsponge) for suggestions of where to purchase the necessary tools to achieve this lamp making pursuit of mine.

She suggested that I purchase a super-easy lamp making kit from Amazon.com... and so I did! My total checkout price for the kit was less than $25 buckaroos (with the harp purchase included), so I was pretty pumped with how inexpensive the purchase ended up being for me. 

The kit came in the mail in less than three days, so I immediately began crafting my lamp!

Part 1: I wanted to remove the product logo from the jug in order to have a clean look to the lamp. So really part 1 of the whole process was just documenting the fact that the logo was there... and then it was about to hit the road haha

Part 2: In order to remove the logo from the jug, I soaked the bottle in soapy hot water. After letting the jug sit in the water for about five minutes, I used a razor blade to scratch off the logo. This process was relatively easy. I soaked the bottle for a little while longer, and then made one last scratching run around the bottle with the razor blade to make sure that there was no left over sticky stuff. 

The lamp making kit accessories and harp were neatly packaged, and the directions were somewhat understandable... lets just say some sailor-mouth language was used between myself and the kit accessories when trying to get it all together... 

Part 3: Relishing in the fact that I had a nice clean jug with no logo on it!

Part 4: After piecing all of the lamp kit items together, and securing the kit accessories into the jug, the moment of truth had arrived. Had I successfully wired the neutral wire to the silver screw, and the other wire to the brass screw? Would electricity flow through the wires and make the light bulb work? I was not really sure, but I was about to find out...

Part 5: HALLELUJAH (Angels and a chorus singing in the background)! After plugging the chord into the wall for the first time, the light immediately turned on. To say that I was excited about actually making a freaking lamp all by myself is a MAJOR understatement! I was so happy!! All in all, the process of putting the kit pieces together, and wiring the chords to the necessary connections was pretty easy. If I could do it, anyone can do it! 

The lampshade in the above photo is one that I just took off from one of the lamps in our house, so I still need to go out and purchase one for this lamp. After testing this shade out with the lamp, I am thinking that I will stick with a shade that has some sort of texture.

So cheers to achieving one of my creative pursuits!!

Following my pursuits,

Price

Special thanks to:

Design Sponge: http://www.designsponge.com/

Amazon.com: http://www.amazon.com/Converts-Treasured-Collectibles-Lighting-Accents/dp/B000MS9VQ4/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1311994939&sr=8-2 (This is the exact kit that I ordered to make my lamp. I had to add in the harp with the purchase order)

Earth Fare: http://earthfare.com/ (For an awesome glass jug and some divine organic apple juice)