Austin adventures.

I'm just going to go ahead and admit that my first year of living in Austin was rather tame, to say the least. I played it safe and remained (for the most part) in my comfortable little bubble.

While I could've been discovering the hidden treasures of this city, I kept to a pretty unexciting routine of attending class during the week and occasionally meeting up with friends on the weekends. I rarely drove my car anywhere, except to the dance studio for a ballet session or HEB for my monthly grocery shopping spree; every so often, I hopped a ride with Megan or Shelby to see a movie at the mall. Guadalupe, South Congress, and 6th Street were the extent of my travels, and the ever-so-popular Kerbey Lane Cafe was my most frequented spot.

Not once did I take a day trip to Barton Springs or dance the night away at Midnight Rodeo. My Friday nights out consisted of grabbing coffee in San Marcos and listening to live music at The Coffee Pot…week after week after week.

Don't get me wrong—freshman year was a lot of fun. And as I was still adjusting to the college life at that point, I think I might have been somewhat justified in my safe-playing. But now that we're in Austin for our second year, Kristen and I have decided to branch out a little bit more. Try some new things, if you will. In fact, we've come up with a plan to go on at least one adventure together per week. It could be anything—exploring a festival, trying out a local restaurant, visiting a park, crashing a frat party (okay, not likely)—as long as it's not the same old stuff that we've grown used to. Each adventure will be documented and posted to my blog so that we can hold ourselves accountable.

I guess the point of this is to really get to know the city that we're so lucky to live in. I want to take full advantage of all that Austin has to offer, and I feel like this could be a good way to do it. Let's just say, I'm determined to be a true Austin local by the time next summer rolls around.

This week's undertaking? An afternoon spent at BookPeople, Austin's most popular independent bookstore, and its neighboring Anthropologie. Okay, not exactly what I would call adventurous, but give us a break—it's only our first outing. We'll get better at this.

P.S. Photos of our fabulous apartment will be posted as soon as everything is settled. It's really coming together!