Ready for a Home

I found my future residence this evening. It is a gorgeous mixed use neighborhood with a bookstore and cute little grocery in easy walking distance, seafood and Italian restaurants also in walking distance, fountains and statues, and the coolest outdoor fireplace with chimney and actual fire. And the apartments start at only $900 a month.

Hmm. So maybe I won't be moving in any time soon. Either way, I was stuck waiting around in Austin after school let out because it was the preferable alternative to driving an extra hour and a half to spend an entire one hour at home. And I discovered what is possibly my favorite area in all of Austin, as it was more similar to some places in Europe than anything else I've encountered since.. well.. Europe. I wandered around in awe for forty minutes, and didn't even have time to enter the bookstore. I did make my way through the cool (and unfortunately expensive) grocery, examining all the shelves and eating my way through their samples (all of which sufficiently impressed me so that I'd consider buying something if I was rich.... and oh my gosh do they have a nice selection of cheese!), and admiring their wines and desserts (I tried a small coconut pineapple rum cake; mmmmm).

I also discovered that it is, despite my general strong opinions to the contrary, possible to eat by yourself in a restaurant and actually enjoy it. The key is bringing a good book along so that you have somewhere to look while eating and some enjoyable alternative to conversation. It helps if you go to a very fancy seafood restaurant where all you can afford is an appetizer and soup, and proceed to enjoy the best coconut shrimp you've ever tasted with an amazing relish to dip them in and a surprisingly tasty seafood corn chowder. (It also helps if the book is Orson Scott Card's newest book. However, it doesn't help if you're squeamish and trying to read a particularly squeamy medical chapter while eating.) I also now, after a year, have discovered my first favorite restaurant in Texas. All my others are back in MI.

So, I probably really can't move here any time soon, but I may go back and explore again, even just to sit down on their fun benches, admire the fountains, or find a spot near the fireplace when it gets cooler, and read or write. I mean, all that was really missing from the near-Europe picture were travel companions.. (Hey, Domenic, if you read this post, come back to Austin! Our birthday is on a Friday, we've got the weekend to celebrate... ;-) ).

The place, by the way, is The Domain in Austin, and the restaurant therein is called McCormicks.