Scared to DEATH!

Look, I am terrified of haunted houses but I’m still hard to impress. I tend to talk to the actors and ignore things jumping out at me, but we went to the Mansion of Terror and while my husband and young’n loved it and wanted to go again, I was the one who made everyone laugh because I screamed the ENTIRE time and actually RAN out of the haunted house. True story.

The Mansion of Terror returns for its 5th season and was rated America’s scariest Haunted House by Liongate Films. Admission includes two separately themed haunted houses in the same location and you will be terrified in the Slaughter Circus with a truly twisted take on an 1800s sideshow and circus complete with claustrophobic passageways and bloody screaming clowns, AND the second house Blood Frenzy which reminded me of a much much scarier version of the Saw movies (seriously).

This picture was taken after we finished- note my dilated pupils. This is no joke, people.

Hacked Up Body Parts

It’s not all just hacked up body part props, it’s also charitable… the Mansion of Terror owner Norm Glenn is a firm believer in giving back to the Austin community (through charities like the American Cancer Society), “there is no sense in running a business here in Austin if you can’t give back to the people who need it in our local community.” So go, get the pants scared off of you and help your community. The creepy clown said you have to, so go to the Mansion of Terror in North Austin.

Recently, I shared a series of photos taken at one of my favorite Austin coffee houses, the Spider House Cafe. My husband and I have very fond memories of chillin’ at the SHC and little known fact: our bed’s headboard is made from the house’s original shutters!

In comments, local painter Lavanna Martin revealed her secret that she is a coffeehouse artist and she may be painting you while you’re sipping your jumbo organic fair trade coffee and pecking away at your iPhone. She is a wonderfully gifted artist and I am amazed that she can do a portrait at such a rapid pace before her secret subjects slip away! I love that she keeps an Art Journal where she records why she chose her subjects and what she was feeling. She also does commissioned work for which I anticipate she will soon be a commonly known name in Austin, check her out!

Why I Care:

Big Big News

This week at the Clinton Global Initiative Annual Meeting, Wal-Mart announced a new program to reduce plastic shopping bag waste 33% per store by 2013.

The program will focus on reducing the amount of plastic bags distributed at Wal-Mart stores, encouraging customers to purchase and use reusable bags, and promoting more recycling options for bags.

This is INCREDIBLE!

If the effort is successful, the program could reduce energy consumption by approximately 678,000 barrels of oil annually and reduce CO2 emissions by 290,000 metric tons per year, the equivalent of removing 53,000 cars from the road annually.

The announcement is good news certainly and having the world’s largest retailer acknowledge the harmful effects of plastic shopping bags is a big step in the right direction. Within the next few weeks, the first round of data will come in from the Austin plastic bag voluntary reduction program. It will give us the opportunity to take stock, see what we’ve accomplished and then plan for the future.

Source: Bag The Bags Coalition

But it is a real problem. Just flip through this slideshow and tell me you’re not surprised:

Take Action

On September 13th, Austinites will gather for the First Annual HAM-Up benefiting the Capital Area Food Bank. What’s a HAM Up? Let me break it down: HAM = Hunger Action Month, Up= Tweet-up (which is a meetup of Twitter users). Everyone is welcome and we ask you to donate your time, talent and treasure as best you can. Will YOU be there??

We’ve been watching downtown Austin develop for quite some time with mixed feelings as we’ve gone along. Last fall, I wrote about the massive tower called 360 Condominiums over on the corporate blog. No matter how you feel about the skyline changing, you have to admit that the view from 360 is amazing, check it out (complete with rock jamz):

Video courtesy of Austin’s own, onefivedoor

I wrote today about a lemonade stand in our neighborhood and about the nostalgia I felt when I saw it. Remember when you were a kid and it was okay to sit on the side of the road and peddle drinks your mom made? Remember when we played ball in the street until a car came and we all scattered while yelling “car! car! car!” There’s a certain homey feel that we recall when icons like a lemonade stand pop up around our home.

Can you imagine if you were looking at this subdivision for the first time ever and you drove in and were greeted by a lemonade stand? My thought would be “awwww, I LOVE it here!” Lame but true.

So what happens when the builder model the kids are in front of opens? Will the kids be allowed to squat on that spot? Most likely, the builder will ask them to remove their table from their property. But what if the only other builder in the subdivision actually bought a table for the neighborhood kids? What if they ASKED the kids to set up in front of THEIR model? Not in the driveway but on the corner?

What if this behavior was nurtured? My bet is that the homey feeling created would increase sales. In this rough sales environment, builders and home sellers need to think outside the box. And creating the feel of home is just what some people need when they’re plopping down their checkbook for their biggest investment ever.

What else besides a lemonade stand would make YOU think of home?

A Zillion Dollars of Asphalt

Today, the Austin City Council approved a proposal for primary and secondary providers of “hot mix asphalt concrete” for the city’s roads. I scanned over today’s agenda and what stood out to me were the ginormous dollar amounts attached to the approval- the City approved $20,422,334 for asphalt… ASPHALT! It seems so exorbitant and while I’m sure Austin (not Texas, we’re just talking about Austin) will use all of this asphalt, it feels like the city just went to dad and said, “hey dad, I know that Diesel jeans are like waaay expensive and I *could* wear Old Navy, but I really need them to fit in, pleeeeeease?” knowing full well he’d say yes if I did the pouty eyes. Hey Austin, can I have $20mill [insert pouty lips here]? I could use it too, you know!

Wynn Won’t Be In A Jam Again

The other agenda note that stuck out to me happens to also be concrete related. Remember when a construction truck at the Monarch site blocked the road, stopped traffic during the morning rush hour and Mayor Will Wynn hopped out of his car, used some of my favorite cuss words and told them to get their butts out of the street for at least an hour? I think he’s got a GREAT solution cooked up in a recommendation for city council he’s co-sponsored… in the future, concrete may be poured by permit from 7pm to 6am in the Central Business District and I would assume the main goal is traffic congestion since so many new high rises are sprouting in that area.

With so many moving parts in our city, it’s always good to keep an eye on what’s up with the City’s agenda. What do YOU think about the millions being spent on asphalt and the possibility of permitted overnight concrete pouring?

photo credit

Why I Care

Yeah, I’m sick of the “go green” crap too, but guess what- it worked on me. Fifteen years ago, my Whole Foods eatin’ Grandma bought me a canvas bag for groceries. Later, she asked why a college student wouldn’t carry a canvas bag for groceries, rather use wasteful plastic. The answer is that I was lazy- too lazy to remember to carry it and too lazy to even find it. I carry it now because I drive a car I can keep them in and because I can carry all my groceries in 4 bags instead of 20.

When I was a child, my father groomed much of the acreage we lived on. He left the live oaks and chopped down the scraggly cedars that grow like weeds and stifle ground foliage, we braided smaller saplings into arches, we climbed the big trees and we loved the nature surrounding us from an early age. My stepmother insisted in the 90s that we crush cans and recycle them, and would ask us to save our paper so she could take it to work to recycle it into note sheets. I didn’t start recycling until a year ago, and I’ve lived in new homes for almost 5 years where the entire landscape was reduced to dirt piles, only to add new saplings.

Although I always have loved nature, I haven’t nurtured it until it became convenient for me. I’ll admit this.

Austin’s Regulations

I don’t know what the regulations are in your city, but here in Austin most new land developments whether commercial or residential are required to have an exorbitant amount of “green space” which annoys developers to no end. It’s expensive for them to not be able to build on 100% of the land they’ve put money into. Water treatment systems are required on all new developments and building standards almost always have to comply with the Energy Star ratings.

So how then is Austin cheating the system? By saying they require 20-30% of all approved developments to be “green space,” but not requiring the “green space” to be the original trees and green space that previously existed. Instead, developers are allowed to excavate and turn the dirt on the entire plot of land- be it 1 or 1,000 acres. They rape the ecosystem, plant a few little stick trees, leave a scraggly spot as a “pocket park” and call it eco-friendly. Aww, good job, let’s give city council a big ol’ pat on the back for this fake-appease-the-hippies-law, why dont we?

Biggest Sham Ever

This is the biggest sham I’ve ever heard of and when we speak out against it, people are amazed that the “green space” required doesn’t have to be the existing land, rather ends up being clumps of monkey grass, a few lantana and tiny aspen saplings from another state which may or may not end up living in Texas soil.

Austin, we’re tired of just talking about it. We don’t want to go all hippie on you, but we’re pretty close to doing so- picket signs and all. I may have voted for Bush (twice) but I love my freakin’ trees. I know California doesn’t understand why developments that carve into our precious 2222 mountain won’t ever sell (because you’ve demolished a natural landmark we adore), but it’s not California who needs to understand- it’s our elected officials.

CHANGE THE CODE, AUSTIN… NOW! The 20-30% should be EXISTING green space, not puny plants post-excavation!

For some time, I’ve heard rumors of Austin City Council passing some insanely ridiculous mandates that require home sellers to retrofit their homes for energy efficiency to obtain a certificate of compliance that could cost homeowners any profit margin they could ever expect in the sale of their home!!! (for full story, click here)

Apparently these proposals are soon becoming a reality in Austin and tomorrow, Single Pointe will be attending a REALTOR-sponsored luncheon that will have Q&A time for the City Council members. My first question would be “are you out of your ever loving mind?” Single Pointe will be printing out all comments to this story (click here to leave your comment) and taking them to the meeting.

I could write pages and pages on this about how I smell something fishy and I sense that someone’s pockets are about to get really full while Austin home sellers feel the excrutiating pain of this INSANE proposal. Instead, I’ll request that anyone reading this, go comment and tell the City Council what you think, even if you’re out of state (what would you do if this were YOUR city? have you seen this happen before? wth?)!

I’ve closed comments here so they are all in one place (here).

I just came across a video of dudes in what looks to be Zilker Park throwing sharp arrow-like objects at an unseen target. I’m hoping the target’s not a a pack of silent swans begging for food, the crowded playscape, or Mayor Wynn. Can someone tell me what these dangerous objects are being thrown at before I boycott going to Zilker Park near downtown Austin!?!