Here's a really interesting article about Austin and our possible future:
Sunday, October 28, 2012
Tuesday, December 13, 2011
A Bat Story...
As we all know, Austin is known by some as "Bat City" because of our very large bat population that lives under the Ann Richards bridge on Congress Avenue. I ran across this video of a rescued baby bat on the Huffington Post and just had to share! Take a look:
Bats are really important for our ecosystem. : )
Bats are really important for our ecosystem. : )
Wednesday, October 12, 2011
The Natural Gardener
There is an amazing place to visit while you're in Austin, called the Natural Gardener. It's about a 12 mile drive west from casa kenwood (out toward the Hill Country), but well worth the drive! Check out this really great blog post, where you'll see some amazing photos: Natural Gardener
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
A Wedding at Casa Kenwood Guesthouses
Today was a special day at casa kenwood guesthouses. We hosted our first wedding here in our backyard! We got so many compliments about the landscape, and the bride and groom (Natalie and Bryce) did an amazing job of decorating. Couldn't have been better weather for an outdoor wedding.
We're in the midst of SXSW and there's so much activity in Austin right now! The energy is amazing. The interactive part just ended, and now music is starting up. I'm excited to see some live music this week, including The Strokes in a free show on Auditorium Shores on Thursday night (!) Makes me happy to be living in such a great town.
Saturday, March 5, 2011
Austin: Home of the Whole Foods HQ
...Okay, this isn't the greatest photo of the Whole Foods Global Headquarters (in Austin, TX), but at least it gives you somewhat of an idea of what it looks like. The building in the back is the actual HQ.
Why am I posting about Whole Foods? Well, it's just a little tidbit of fact that Whole Foods' humble beginnings happened just down the street from their current 6th and Lamar behemoth store in what is now Cheapo Records. I remember their quaint little first store. Even way back then (we're talking early '90s) I remember how I gravitated to the natural soap section, and the way the store employees used to get on the loudspeaker and banter with each other. All of the employees back then smelled like patchouli (among "other things", ha ha) and most of them had dreadlocks and wore tie-dye. I've never actually seen the Richard Linklater film "Slacker", but it supposedly captures early 90's Austin in a moment in time, back when Austin was truly laid-back and "weird" (if you weren't already aware of it, "Keep Austin Weird" is our official--or unofficial--mantra), and some of the scenes were shot right by the original Whole Foods.
I have to admit that I look back at that time in Austin with fondness. I grew up only an hour north up Interstate 35, but I moved to the ATX officially in the summer of 1993 after graduating from college in Sherman, TX (an hour north of Dallas) and just entering film school at the University of Texas. I'd just missed Robert Rodriguez' (filmmaker) time there, he graduated from the undergrad RTF program the year before. And I thought that parking around the university was crowded back then! This was before the LA/NY invasion of hipsters that would gobble up Austin property like PacMan gobbled up little dots and dashes. This was back when South Congress was not the nicest place to be, and we used to joke about the ladies-of-the-night that used to hang around the seedy motels there.
No more. South Congress (and the surrounding neighborhoods of Travis Heights and Bouldin Creek) are THE place to be in Austin. It's the last vestige of authentic Austin, if only the "artistic interpretation" of what Old Austin sort of...meant. We South Austinities like to joke around that anything north of the river (it used to be "Town Lake", now it's "Lady Bird Lake") was Round Rock (the uber-conservative suburbia of sprawling sameness). South Austin is anything but sameness, "and that don't sit well with some people." But that's okay.
The days of winter are slowly slipping past us now, and cool, crisp, blue-skied days are ever more present (including today), and so with that reality I'm making it my goal to start highlighting some more haunts and hallowed ground of my fair city. Stay tuned!
Why am I posting about Whole Foods? Well, it's just a little tidbit of fact that Whole Foods' humble beginnings happened just down the street from their current 6th and Lamar behemoth store in what is now Cheapo Records. I remember their quaint little first store. Even way back then (we're talking early '90s) I remember how I gravitated to the natural soap section, and the way the store employees used to get on the loudspeaker and banter with each other. All of the employees back then smelled like patchouli (among "other things", ha ha) and most of them had dreadlocks and wore tie-dye. I've never actually seen the Richard Linklater film "Slacker", but it supposedly captures early 90's Austin in a moment in time, back when Austin was truly laid-back and "weird" (if you weren't already aware of it, "Keep Austin Weird" is our official--or unofficial--mantra), and some of the scenes were shot right by the original Whole Foods.
I have to admit that I look back at that time in Austin with fondness. I grew up only an hour north up Interstate 35, but I moved to the ATX officially in the summer of 1993 after graduating from college in Sherman, TX (an hour north of Dallas) and just entering film school at the University of Texas. I'd just missed Robert Rodriguez' (filmmaker) time there, he graduated from the undergrad RTF program the year before. And I thought that parking around the university was crowded back then! This was before the LA/NY invasion of hipsters that would gobble up Austin property like PacMan gobbled up little dots and dashes. This was back when South Congress was not the nicest place to be, and we used to joke about the ladies-of-the-night that used to hang around the seedy motels there.
No more. South Congress (and the surrounding neighborhoods of Travis Heights and Bouldin Creek) are THE place to be in Austin. It's the last vestige of authentic Austin, if only the "artistic interpretation" of what Old Austin sort of...meant. We South Austinities like to joke around that anything north of the river (it used to be "Town Lake", now it's "Lady Bird Lake") was Round Rock (the uber-conservative suburbia of sprawling sameness). South Austin is anything but sameness, "and that don't sit well with some people." But that's okay.
The days of winter are slowly slipping past us now, and cool, crisp, blue-skied days are ever more present (including today), and so with that reality I'm making it my goal to start highlighting some more haunts and hallowed ground of my fair city. Stay tuned!
Sunday, October 10, 2010
Down the Meadow - Austin Skyline - ACL 2010
We couldn't have asked for a more beautiful weekend for the Austin City Limits Festival this year. There have been clear skies for about a week and a half now, if not a full two weeks. Some days it feels like Fall is coming, but then the temp marches back up to the high 80s (I'm not complaining!) We're entering into one of the absolute best seasons in Austin. We do have some open dates this month, so let us know if you're headed our way, we'd love to have you stay at casa kenwood guesthouses!
Monday, April 12, 2010
Video of Studio Azul
Here's a little preview of Casa Azul (the "artist studio loft") at Casa Kenwood Guesthouses, taken on the Flip Minno. It's a little shaky, but it works for now :)
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