Getting To Know Austin: Networking and WSJ

Last night I attended a Buzz Party, a networking event for lady entrepreneurs in the Austin area, hosted by CRAVE Austin. It was certainly a buzz-worthy event, held at Collectic Home, a great resource for Austin designers and shoppers. I met a ton of interesting, motivated women, learned a bit about Crave, and doled out my business card – let the phone start a-ringin'!

Hello?

Networking is so strange – necessary, but strange. And uncomfortable. And awkward. But I do it when I can, and coming to a new city with pretty much no contacts makes networking absolutely essential.  I went to this little shin-dig solo, since it was a ladies event (Oliver stayed home and painted – ha! I painted when I got home – boo) which meant I had to orbit around and strike up conversations with strangers and try not to seem creepy.

One thing I do like about networking in a new city (aside from the potential to meet people, expand the old network and potentially get work as a result) is that it forces me to get out and explore parts of town I may not have come across on my own for a while. We've done a fair amount of wandering around, getting our bearings, figuring out how to get here and there, but I can always use a little nudge. And some free wine.

I'm a little behind in my current events, although I managed to catch wind of the 19 inches New York is buried under and I'm (not so) secretly gloating about the fact that I went jogging and worked in the yard in shorts today. But I digress....In trying to catch up on some news, I came across this article in the Wall Street Journal about things to do in Austin over the course of a long weekend. Author Kate Bolick hit on a few places we already love – and wrote about – such as Spiderhouse Cafe, Uncommon Objects,  The Driskill Hotel, South Congress Cafe, places on the top of our must-do list, like Hotel San Jose, Continental Club, Fonda San Miguel and Allen's Boots, and introduced us to places we definitely need to check out, including Harry Ransom Center, a highly-regarded literary archive and cultural preservation center, Texas Rowing Center for a little kayaking around Town Lake/Lady Bird Lake (it's actually a river), and The Broken Spoke for some honky-tonkin'.

Allen's Boots photo by Ryann Ford for The Wall Street Journal


For now, it's back to painting and job hunting. We're almost done with the office/second bedroom! xoxo