Weekending In Austin {Austin Bachelorette Party}

This past weekend was spent in Austin for my girl Angie's bachelorette party...and it was a phenomenal one.

If you follow me on Instagram, you have seen some of these pics already, but now you just get more detail about what we did during our weekend of debauchery. Ok, not even close, but it was still a great one.

First things first, the bride-to-be picked me up at the airport and we were the first to arrive at our downtown penthouse apartment for the weekend - it was really the best way to stay in the city and perfect for our group of seven.  Not only that, but it was very contemporary and the decor was gorgeous. I highly recommend you checking out VRBO if you are going on a trip with a large group and want the convenience of being all together in the same space.

Afterwards, we headed to Whole Foods to pick up some necessities - vino, champagne, chips & guac, bottled water. To tell you this was the most amazing Whole Foods ever, wouldn't be doing it justice. It's the flagship store and had everything you could imagine. A couple bars, a coffee shop, made-to-order everything. Plus, they had this Mamamango champs. Pretty fitting, right?

After the rest of the girls arrived from Houston & Odessa, we got dolled up (no pics of us, bad blogger alert) and headed to dinner at Uchi, which was phenomenal. Described as a contemporary Japanese dining and sushi restaurant which I hear is one of the hottest in town. Kay was a pro orderer so we let her take over while we sampled many plates of delicious food and washed it down with bottle after bottle of wine. I have to say I stepped out of my comfort zone and tried many new foods and was surprised that I enjoyed it all.

There was a ton of girl talk, getting to know each other, more wine and before we knew it we had been there for about three hours before heading back to our place, opening more wine and continuing the conversation on the comfort of the couch.

The next morning some of the gals went for a run, some of us went for a Starbucks run and then we all piled into a tour bus chock full of champagne to head out to Texas Wine Country - who knew there was such a thing? I sure didn't!

We set up our tour with Discover Texas Wine Tours and let me tell you they were fab! Our driver Wayland was seriously the best - he was knowledgeable about the area as well as the one olive oil company and two wineries we visited.

Our first stop was the Texas Hill Country Olive Company...while this isn't a winery, the stop was a great one as they featured legit olive oil and vinegars for us to sample with endless bread, sangria and wine samples from other local wineries.  I had to bring a couple bottles home and opted for the Garlic Olive Oil and the Balsamic Vinegar, but I was close to picking up the Lemon Olive Oil and Peach Vinegar which we all decided would be a delicious salad dressing.

Then we headed to Hawk's Shadow Winery, which may have been my favorite. As you can see below, we found ourselves in a rainy day which actually turned out to be very cold, but still opted to sit outside for our tasting. Wayland was the best as he held an umbrella to help stop some of the rain drips on our backs and the owner Tom kept finding jackets and rain slickers for us to keep covered. The wine was phenom, the lunch we enjoyed there (which was part of the wine tour package) was delish and the family who owned this place were just the best. They were so sweet and accommodating, even allowing us to use their gorgeous log cabin for real restrooms.

We then traveled over to Duchman Family Winery which is where Angie will be getting married in five short weeks. And let me tell you it was just beautiful - very Tuscany-like and I can't wait to watch her walk down the aisle there.

After we got back to Austin, we all had a nice afternoon buzz and decided to hit up some shops nearby, pick up dinner from Whole Foods and then swung by Amy's Ice Creams (I wouldn't recommend the Bacon Jalapeno, but I do recommend trying it just to say you did) for an little treat because we had decided we were going to stay in for the night.

Say what? Stay in - meaning not go out - on a bachelorette party weekend?

Yep. That is just what we did and it was perfect.

After chowing down, opening some wine and putting on our fat pants - we sat around chatting, playing a bad ass round of Heads Up (if you haven't downloaded this app, you need to ASAP) and then more talking, wine/champagne drinking to round out the night. And it was absolutely perfect.

On Sunday, we all got packed up, two of the gals headed home and the rest of us hit up Moonshine Patio Bar & Grill for brunch and mimosas This place was just the cutest and the brunch (tables and tables of delicious food) was perfect to soak up some of the champagne hangover. I would absolutely recommend this place and I've heard their dinner is just as good.

I think the best way to describe our weekend is the ultimate "In Your 30s" Bachelorette Party. There was no pressure to get dolled up in our shortest, tightest dresses and prance around the bars and while my only regret (albeit a small one) is that I didn't get to see more of the city (6th Street, Rainey, Warehouse District), I really wouldn't have changed anything.

One thing I can say, Angie has found some amazing gals to be in her life and I'm so happy to see that she has this group of friends in Houston - her home away from home. I feel fortunate to have had the chance to meet them and look forward to seeing them all again in a few short weeks.

Now that is what I call a very grown up girl's weekend.

B Loved Boston