#and new name and stuff...obvs with some mess ups but it was like 80% better than before

[wild-at-mind]

Really super loving that my haircut has unintentionally grown out into a style that the entire internet loves associating with horrible middle aged women. /s

[thelovers-thedreamers-and-me]

Get to know me uncomfortably well: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100

jesus christ

put under a cut because i want to make absolutely sure nobody reads this massive amount of information and also did you ask for EVERY NUMBER EXCEPT 69

1. What is you middle name?

marie

2. How old are you?

28

3. When is your birthday?

november 9 and i bet you didn’t even get me a present, you absolute monster

4. What is your zodiac sign?

scorpio

5. What is your favorite color?

i like jewel tones in general, my fave right now is dark green

6. What’s your lucky number?

i don’t really have one, tbh

7. Do you have any pets?

i do not, unfortunately. i hope to at some point soonish but a lot of that is gonna depend on how my situation shakes out

8. Where are you from?

st. john’s, newfoundland

9. How tall are you?

5′4″

10. What shoe size are you?

9

11. How many pairs of shoes do you own?

i’m not getting up but like 7? i need to get a new pair for working in and i will be getting rid of the ones i don’t wear so that number is in flux

already answered 12

13. What talents do you have?

none, really. but i’m alright at knitting and generally, like, figuring out how physical objects work and go together. my friends also tens to enjoy the games i run so that’s nice.

14. Are you psychic in any way?

bitch read my mind and find out

15. Favorite song?

i cannot express how impossible it is for me to pick ONE FUCKING SONG that’s my favorite. here’s 5 i always go back to, though!

my tyrant- felix hagan and the family

northbound- grace petrie

staring at the sun- mika

too much- carly rae jepsen

vampire money- my chemical romance

already answered 16

17. Who would be your ideal partner?

well there’s the mushy option in which i name names, but i resolutely refuse to do that since i’ve been informed nobody cares about how queer i am. but generally, i tend towards people i can feel comfortable around. despite me being a huge slut for interacting with people, there’s very few that project the kind of atmosphere that lets me really just chill and start thinking about trusting them.

18. Do you want children?

jesus no don’t put me in charge of a child

19. Do you want a church wedding?

jesus no, even the wedding part of that sounds less than ideal

20. Are you religious?

lmao nah

21. Have you ever been to the hospital?

yeah, a few times

22. Have you ever got in trouble with the law?

well i have a background check going through right now that’ll answer that for me but i think i have not ever been caught for my many crimes

23. Have you ever met any celebrities?

a few- i met russell crowe on a set once, and there’s a good few smaller time canadians i’ve met just, like, around

24. Baths or showers?

i usually go for showers because i am living in a place with an insufficient bathtub setup, but i have been known to enjoy a nice bath now and again

25. What color socks are you wearing?

bold of you to assume i put on socks when i’m not going out

26. Have you ever been famous?

bitch i’m famous now everyone else just doesn’t know it yet

27. Would you like to be a big celebrity?

probably not, i like the act of grocery shopping and going to shitty bars and disappearing, and i couldn’t do that if i was a proper celebrity

28. What type of music do you like?

loud and i can imagine myself being in a cool music video when i walk places listening to it

29. Have you ever been skinny dipping?

well yeah obv

already answered 30

31. What position do you usually sleep in?

usually on my side curled up around something, either a person if i’m lucky or a pillow

32. How big is your house?

the apartment is not big enough atm

33. What do you typically have for breakfast?

i don’t usually eat breakfast at all tbh

34. Have you ever fired a gun?

no but i have held one once

35. Have you ever tried archery?

once in high school gym class. i did...... bad

36. Favorite clean word?

i like words that describe the way dragonfly wings look. diaphenous and iridescent and things.

37. Favorite swear word?

i’ve always been a fan of a good solid fuck, and you can quote me on that

38. What’s the longest you’ve ever gone without sleep?

two days, i think?

39. Do you have any scars?

yep

40. Have you ever had a secret admirer?

yeah but they were prolly goofing

41. Are you a good liar?

not under most circumstances

42. Are you a good judge of character?

no, but not in the usual way. i tend to assume people have a lot more hidden motives than they do. like, obviously you don’t want to be FRIENDS with me, you just are PRETENDING for SOME REASON

43. Can you do any other accents other than your own?

yeah, as a matter of fact, i can do them ALL AT ONCE

44. Do you have a strong accent?

most of the time no, but when i’m talking to people with a strong accent from back home mine slips back

already answered 45

46. What is your personality type?

while i rarely get consistent answers, i just took the myers-briggs again and got enfp so there’s something

47. What is your most expensive piece of clothing?

i don’t own much that’s super expensive tbh, i’m broke as shit. my boots cost like 60 bucks and i stressed about that for ages

48. Can you curl your tongue?

yeah, i can do a lot with it

49. Are you an innie or an outie?

innie

50. Left or right handed?

right

51. Are you scared of spiders?

nah

52. Favorite food?

there’s so much food i love! i do have dumplings i am excited to eat tho

53. Favorite foreign food?

again, there’s so much! i am really craving a good currry today i guess?

54. Are you a clean or messy person?

a bit messy, especially with stuff that isn’t, like, a hygenic risk. if things are just out of place i don’t tend to register that as the same level of unclean as, like, food messes

55. Most used phrased?56. Most used word?

these two are ones my friends could probably answer more reliably than me. i do say i’m not a doctor tho

57. How long does it take for you to get ready?

not long, unless i’ve decided it’s a makeup day and i want to do something dumb and fancy

58. Do you have much of an ego?

i talk a big game, but not really, i’m pretty down on myself a lot

59. Do you suck or bite lollipops?

succ

60. Do you talk to yourself?

mmhmm- specifically, rehearsing conversations that will never happen

61. Do you sing to yourself?

sometimes, when i’m in a good mood

62. Are you a good singer?

absolutely not

63. Biggest Fear?

there’s a few, but i’d say the biggest one i’ve had the longest is a loss of identity of some sort. like, just not recognizing the people around me, that sort of thing. it’s gotten a bit intense recently due to events but yeah

64. Are you a gossip?

not really- like, i will gladly listen to your drama but i only really talk about it to other people if it actually affects me

65. Best dramatic movie you’ve seen?

oof jesus, i tend to watch more shitty horror movies than anything else bc i’m hot trash

66. Do you like long or short hair?

both are fine on other people, but short hair is way better for me

67. Can you name all 50 states of America?

just did a quiz and only got 40. i didn’t even remember all the ones i had been to so that’s cool. you guys have too many states anyway

68. Favorite school subject?

i was your standard weird queer kid who imprinted on my english teachers

70. Have you ever been scuba diving?

nah

71. What makes you nervous?

so many things tbh

72. Are you scared of the dark?

nope

73. Do you correct people when they make mistakes?

depends on the person and the mistake, really.

74. Are you ticklish?

fuck off

75. Have you ever started a rumor?

i don’t think so?

76. Have you ever been in a position of authority?

i’m a dungeon master, does that counts

77. Have you ever drank underage?

yeop

78. Have you ever done drugs?

yeop

79. Who was your first real crush?

my best friend in elementary school. i wanted her and i to get married to brothers so that we could live next door to each other and have sleepovers every night because i really liked sleeping next to her and doing her hair

hoo boy baby bobbie (i even knew lesbians as a kid! i grew up in such an accepting family! i have no excuse for being so repressed)

80. How many piercings do you have?

just one ear

81. Can you roll your Rs?“

not competently

82. How fast can you type?

pretty fast- i did take a test recently that came back at 68 wpm so my goal is now to get one word faster

83. How fast can you run?

fuck running

84. What color is your hair?

black with green bits, i post a lot of selfies, you know that

85. What color is your eyes?

grayish blue

86. What are you allergic to?

nothing that i know of. undefeated

87. Do you keep a journal?

i post on tumblr a lot

88. What do your parents do?

my mom works in communications- she used to work in politics but now she works for a non-profit because the staff of the party she worked for was, in her words, a “sack of vipers”

my dad was a journalist and a photographer. he was the editor for the paper back home for a long time, and then after that he did a lot of advocacy work for MS. he ran for office a few times. you know, like you do.

89. Do you like your age?

it’s alright. like, i got troubles but i accept that none of that is because i’m 28 and mostly just because i got myself into a dumb situation

90. What makes you angry?

mostly when people don’t seem to care about how their actions affect others. like, i can almost accept malice easier than a profit motive

91. Do you like your own name?

it’s not bad, and i haven’t really hit on any that i like more than bobbie

92. Have you already thought of baby names, and if so what are they?

lmao nope

93. Do you want a boy a girl for a child?

i want the child to be born to someone who is not me

94. What are you strengths?

not very many tbh i kinda suck as a human person. i am pretty good at compartmentalizing and staying kinda functional when shit goes down

95. What are your weaknesses?

all of them. specifically, i’m hard to motivate and i got depression

96. How did you get your name?

i was named after my grandmother

97. Were your ancestors royalty?

i know at least one was a criminal. i do have a kickass family crest and tartan tho

98. Do you have any scars?

they haven’t faded since i answered question 39

99. Color of your bedspread?

there’s a gray one and i have a blue weighted blanket i use sometimes

100. Color of your room?

the whole apartment is beige

[peanott]

92 Questions

@useless--mind thanks for tagging me bud!! i love doing these even if no one gives a shit

Last:

1. Drink: milk

2. Phone call: with my grandpa

3. Text message: “👀👀👀“

4. Song you listened to: ultra bra - kaunis ja ylpee 

5. Time I cried: cant remember the last time i properly cried (its not even a rare occurrence just doesnt pop into my mind wtf) but my eyes got wet like two hours ago bc my sister sent me silly pics with her baby and was just extraordinarily sweet love her :(

Have You:

 6. Dated someone twice: no

7. Kissed someone and regretted it: nope

8. Been cheated on: nah

9. Lost someone special: yeah

10. Been depressed: yes

11. Gotten drunk and thrown up: unfortunately................

List Three Favorite Colors:

12. violet

13. baby blue

14. orange mayb

In The Last Year Have You:

15. Made new friends: ive got closer with a few people so kinda? 

16. Fallen out of love: wtf is this love ya keep talkin bout

17. Laughed until you cried: yes

18. Found out someone was talking about you: hahaha yeah 

19. Met someone who changed you: nah

20. Found out who your friends are: in a way? ive not been thinking about this profoundly at all but the way ive perceived some people has strengthened for better and worse which led into new relationship dynamics

21. Kissed someone on your Facebook list: not on the lips 

General:

22. How many Facebook friends do you know in real life: vast majority

23. Do you want to change your name: noo im used to it but at the same time it sometimes hits me that its ACTUALLY my name (its not even anything special i just have confusing thoughts) so it does keep me on my toes and wont get bored of it 

24. What did you do for your last birthday: I CANT REMEMBER lmao ok i dont think we celebrated it on my actual birthday at all bc it wasnt practical that way but i had my sisters over the day before

25. What time did you wake up: 7am cause i hate myseldf

26. What were you doing last night at midnight: drinking water at my friends so id sober up bc im a fucking idiot pls slap me thrice dont hate me 

27. Name something you can’t wait for: get used to the new school i go to in two days (yea i havent even started yet but i can feel the bricks im shitting for the next month or so)

28. When was the last time you saw your mom: an hour ago?

29. What is the one thing you wish you could change in your life: i wanna be able to enjoy living my life properly and take more risks without worrying all the time  

30. What are you listening to right now: partners in crime part three by the internet

31. Have you talked to a person named Tom: no?

32. Most visited website(s): twitter tumblr youtube how generic

Lost Questions:

33. Mole(s): i have three moles (on my temple, under eye, above eyebrow) that form a triangle i was so ecstatic when i discovered this like two years ago

34. Marks: what kind of?? i mean i have stretch marks one from vaccination but thats it i think

35. Childhood dream: either a fashion designer or a housewife lmao

36. Hair color: mYsTiC vIoLeT according to the hair dye idk its hard to describe a dark mix of brown n purple (and red?)

37. Do you have a crush on someone: no

38. What do you like about yourself: that im quite tolerant and considerate of others, how self-aware i am cause thats the only thing that will keep me sane, i can be funny and not take things that seriously but still have extensive opinions and  thoughts on everything

39. Piercings: both ears x2

40. Blood type: a(+ i think) 

41. Nicknames: vertsi or however you wanna twist it its fine i love it

42. Relationship Status: singley

43. Zodiac Sign: taurus

44. Pronouns: she/her

45. Favorite TV shows: oitnb, lie to me, htgawm, skins, drag race, the get down, black mirror

46. Tattoos: none

47. Right or Left hand: right

48. Surgery: none

49. Hair Dyed A Different Color: ye different variations of brown and purple

50. Vacation: last one was to budapest about three years ago

51. Pair Of Trainers: i stole a pair from my mum idk theyre black and pink or some shit

More Generals:

52. Eating: last time? a croissant 

53. Drinking: nothing rn 

54. I’m about to: finish this and then go to sleep

55. Waiting for: a pleasant surprise 

56. Want: a proper social life

57. Get married: idk i loved my sisters wedding but i wouldnt consider marriage a necessity from a romantic point of view. if i ever get married its probably for the legal stuff and the ceremony will be low-budget and simple 

58. Career: probably gonna do something with psychology or languages

Which Is Better:

59. Hugs or Kisses: hugs ?whats a kiss?

60. Lips or eyes: eyes

61. Short or tall: idc!!! ok im kind of intimidated by tall people i feel like they could crush me in a heartbeat but maybe that adds into my excitement  

62. Older or younger: older for now at least

63. Nice arms or nice stomach: great the two body parts that barely hold any meaning to me good choice 

64. Sensitive or loud: im personally both (ok we gotta debate on the loud part with some people) but i think i value someone that is more likely to understand my own sensitivity so i guess sensitive it is

65. Hook up or relationship: relationship

66. Troublemaker or hesitant: troublemaker sounds disgusting but i guess that since they would push my hesitant ass to do some stretching out of my comfort zone

Have You Ever:

67. Kissed a stranger: no

68. Had hard liquor: yes

69. Lost glasses/contact lenses: no

70. Turned someone down: kind of 

71. Sex on first date: no

72. Broken someone’s heart: naah

73. Had my heart broken: nope

74. Been arrested: no

75. Cried when someone died: yes

76. Fallen For a Friend: fgjhjh kinda... got over it fast tho cause it was impossible

Do You Believe In:

77. Yourself: No I Do Not Exist We Are Collectively Hallucinating Me 

78. Miracles: not really

79. Love at first sight: i believe you can sense if a person is compatible with you BUT ITS NOT LOVE AT FIRST SIGHT YOU ARE JUST A PERCEPTIVE PERSON 

80. Santa Clause: obvs my Dad

81. Kiss on the first date: i dont think it has anything to do with belief if it feels right at that moment then do it 

82. Angels: um? havent you seen the axe commercial :/ 

83. Aliens: yes!!

Other Random Things:

84. Current Best Friend’s name: mira

85. Eye color: blue and grey or some shit

86. Favorite Movie: black swan

87. Hold an object dear to you: my phone love being a #relatable millennial 

88. Favorite Ice Cream Flavour: vanilla or lemon

89. Least favorite thing: when my clothes fall under my bed and then im too scared to dig them out 

90. Name one thing you could change about the world: no social injustice

91. Current Song stuck in your head: i know by fiona apple

92. Favorite Childhood show: powerpuff girls? idk i liked most of the shows from my childhood

jesus christ sorry this is a hot mess made by  someone who tries to function at 2am using their second language @nuddy-pants do this xx

[bluewitch17]

85 questions tag

I was tagged by @soshortstoryteller and it made my day (?)

rules: answer these 85 questions and tag 20 people (not gonna do it, SPOILER ALERT)

— What was your last…

1. Drink: nestea wiii

2. Phone call: mmm my brother because I wanted to talk to him and he was listening to music

3. Text message: to @soshortstoryteller yay! Because I want to give her a thousand hugs and I can’t so I do digital hugs somehow

4. Song you listened to: I think it was Hear Me by Imagine Dragons, I’m obssesed with this song

5. Time you cried: ... yesterday, but I cried because I’m an emotional mess and some days I cry out of everything. What I mean is: NO DRAMA

6. Dated someone twice: Yeah... in my dreams Harry Potter and I are a thing for years

7. Kissed someone and regretted it: you don’t say where, so I’m gonna say somebody that I used to call friend, in the cheek. It’s a long story, but I feel veeery uncomfortable now

Publicación original de ungifable (poh vale)

8. Been cheated on: you can’t be cheated on if you don’t have a couple heheh

9. Lost someone special: nah, they lost me actually 

10. Been depressed: NEVER

11. Gotten drunk and thrown up: I don’t drink bro

— Fave colours

12. BLUE

13. BLACK

14. GREY

— in the last year have you…

15. Made new friends: yeeeeees

16. Fallen out of love: eeerm noup

17. Laughed until you cried: lots of times

18. Found out someone was talking about you: yep, they said I was just like I didn’t exist in class. I’m a GHOST hell yeah!

19. Met someone who changed you: look at the person who tagged me, there you have ^^ 

20. Found out who your friends are: well, I HOPE SO

21. Kissed someone on your facebook friends list: I don’t have facebook so...

— General

22. How many of your facebook friends do you know irl: I DON’T HAVE FACEBOOK

23. Do you have any pets: does the monster that lives under my bed counts?

24. Do you want to change your name: yes. All the yes. I want to be named Ariadna, but... everybody knows me as Mery so...

25. What did you do for your last birthday: mmm eat cake and cry over happiness (alone of course)

26. What time did you wake up today: 9:10

27. What were you doing at midnight last night: writing actually, but by hand not by pc

28. What is something you can’t wait for: mmm hug Solete

30. What are you listening to right now: my parents telling me to go to have dinner lol

31. Have you ever talked to a person named Tom: noup, why??

32. Something that’s getting on your nerves: not being able to hug Solete, like... I mean it. I’m a hug friend

33. Most visited website: Twitter and Youtube

34. Hair colour: black and blueeee

35. Long or short hair: I like short hair for me, but I’m getting it longer because... I dunno

36. Do you have a crush on someone: maybe... ewe

37. What do you like about yourself: I’m starting to try love all about me

38. Want any piercings: NO AND I DON’T WANT

39. Blood type: A+ my blood is positive yay :3

40. Nicknames: Blue, Gay Queen (yas I still love this one), Mery and Hefy

41. Relationship status: single as a pringle (I love this expression) 

42. Sign: escorpio 

43. Pronouns: she/her because... my ovaries (?)

44. Fave tv show: Game of thrones ^^

45. Tattoos: nah and I don’t think I want (yet...)

46. Right or left handed: right, with my left nobody not even me understands my writing (with the right it doesn’t get much more better xD)

47: Ever had surgery: only once and thanks

48. Piercings: I DON’T WANT

49. Sport: mmm tumbing

50. Vacation: I want it, I want to get the fuck out of the university. You didn’t ask for something in special heh

51. Trainers: Converse yes

— More general

52. Eating: I’ve just eaten an omelette with jam ñam

53. Drinking: wateh

54. I’m about to watch: nothing actually, I want to play some videogames

55. Waiting for: my witch powers to get restored. Wait, don’t tell anyone!

56. Want: chocolate (I’m a hobbit, and hobbits are easily happy with food)

57. Get married: neveeeeeer

58. Career: communitation (yay magnificent... noup)

— Which is better (I started doing this happily and then I saw it’s about crushes and stuff so ha)

59. Hugs or kisses: hugs mostly, I’m a hug bear

60. Lips or eyes: EEEEYES

61. Shorter or taller: I think short people is SO DAMN CUTE

62. Older or younger: well it depends on the brain age... not only being over 18 to be mature you know

63. Nice arms or stomach: stomach because HOBBIT

64. Hookup or relationships: relationships yes

65. Troublemaker or hesitant: well since I’m a fucking hesitant, gimme a little troublemaker. But a little I mean only little trouble, don’t call the police, man

— Have you ever

66. Kissed a stranger: I am not that extrovert damn

67. Drank hard liquor: water is hard yes

68.Turned someone down: ...I don’t know what to say, I hope not...

69. Sex on first date: videogames better thanks

70: Broken someone’s heart: yes but not intentionally

71. Had your heart broken: yep, more than once, but don’t worry is full and bombing again

72. Been arrested: noooop

73. Cried when someone died: obvs

74. Fallen for a friend: yes

— Do you believe in

75. Yourself: most of the times... I hope

76. Miracles: noup

77. Love at first sight: yes, but it is called CRUUUUSH. Love is deeper than that

78. Santa Claus: nah, Jack Frost actually 

79. Angels: yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, I wanna write a book about this, yes, yes, yes, yes

— Misc

80. Eye colour: brown with a honey tone

81. Best friends name: I will only choose the ones I trust deeply -> Luigi and Solete hey!

82. Favourite movie: MOULIN ROUGE

83. Favourite actor: Er... I don’t know. It depends on the movie too much. Only Ewan McGregor gets my attention anytime.

84. Favourite cartoon: ladybug mostly I think

85. Favourite teacher’s name: FAVOURITE TEACHERS?? I haven’t had that in years! But my favourite one and only master of philosophy was Matías, so yeah

UPDATE: @soshortstoryteller got the hugs and I’m happy again

[katherinenoble]

Hello!

I’ve skipped a couple weeks to last week – Abby has arrived and we’re in Texas. She flew into San Antonio (so did I- I flew with Southwest and there was a cracking crew they were a laugh and I actually enjoyed (!) a flight). We stayed in a really cute Airbnb and then headed out for some food – I had a burger and Abby a salad (!!!!). Guess who’s was nicer… I have got to say though I honestly have never eaten as many burgers in my LIFE as I have had in the US. I’m not even really a fan of them at home, it’s the brainwashing happening again! San Antonio has a really really cute riverwalk that tracks miles and miles of the river that runs right the way through the city. We started walking by the river for a while and then after 5 minutes realised we were MUCH too hot but had to keep going… FINALLY reached the point we were aiming for – lots of cute bridges and bars and LOADS of tourists and drank about 4 pints of water at a cute table by the river.

So next day we got a bus down to the missions a little further down the river (not due to the heat – this was actually very far!!!). San Antonio has a bunch of these missions which were set up by the Spanish to convert Native Americans into Catholics and change their name, practices, customs… It’s a bit uncomfortable, to be honest. The churches are still in great condition and a couple are even still used. We walked down the river to the second (literally learning nothing apparently…) and arrived a couple of sweaty messes. It’s very beautiful and reminded me a lot of European old churches. We bussed it back up to downtown and had a look around some more, grabbed some pizza and checked out the market. It was basically a Latino market with a singer, loads of stalls, lots of South American food and the kind of stuff for sale I’ve seen in Mexico etc.

  Making it to civilisation along the river

  Mission #1

Misson #2 (hiding her exhaustion)

Market

We ended our last day in San Antonio at this very very cool bar/restaurant on the river that was basically made up of two storage containers where you order food or beer and then a couple of sheets of corrugated iron that sort of gave it a bit of a roof and some framing. There were big swings overlooking the river and picnic benches and fairy lights everywhere. It was extremely popular and the food was incredibly good. A strong end.

The next stop: Austin! I’ve been excited about going to Austin for months and months- literally everyone I’ve spoken to about has said that it’s one of their favourite cities in the world. We stayed at a hostel that was right in the centre of downtown (the main bit!). Half a block away was 6th street – totally full of bars and restaurants that at night literally all have live music in. Also a weird thing about Austin is that there are food trucks absolutely everywhere selling all types of food. We got a burger and walked over the river and then through a lovely lovely park in the sun. It was a Sunday so everyone in Austin was walking their dog and goodness me Austin has some cute dogs. Abby seems to have realised she’s big into dogs so what with the sweatiness of us both and the need to point out every single dog in the park it took a large chunk of the day to eventually arrive at Barton Springs. It’s an area where everyone can swim/hire kayaks/paddle boards so it was very busy this hot Sunday afternoon. Abby and I found refuge in a nearby restaurant that sells purple ‘Ritas’ that contain Everclear – a spirit so strong it’s banned in a bunch of states — the place has a warning saying you’re only allowed 2..! We didn’t actually have one – I think we were worried we’ll fall asleep and not make it back to actually check into our hostel.

Anyway – we actually managed it and had a rest up before checking out some of the bars nearby. There really was live music in every single one- and it was a Sunday night..! Pretty cool.

Your favourite travellers ever so slightly glammed up

View from the park looking across to Downtown Austin

The heat was getting to us (ps go heels!)

What a poser

A place to swim!! But nothing to swim in…

Next day we had a tour of the Capitol – Austin is the capital of Texas so we had a tour around the building – it’s red! – and could see where the senators get together. After we walked (!) up to the campus for the University of Texas. It’s so beautiful. We snuck into the stadium too to have a look and wow it was large. Obviously UT orange has got nothing on Carolina blue but it was impressive all the same. We also had a look around the Lyndon Johnson library/museum which was genuinely super interesting. I didn’t know anything about LBJ really – except from what Dad has told me from his RIDICULOUSLY long books on the man – so it was a great exhibit to actually know what he did. He did seem like a particularly scary kind of man though. There was literally a place where you could take a photo with a cardboard cut out of LBJ being all intimidating. Although we LOVED Ladybird Johnson’s office and basically everything she wore.

The Capitol

Abby + LBJ (I)

The LBJ library – all the documents – they go on forever

Abby + LBJ (II)

Katie + LBJ

Texas Longhorns (go heels!)

That evening we went to the coolest cinema I have literally ever been to. You get a seat in these really comfy chairs and there’s a menu and you can order basically anything you want and they bring it out to you. I had a very strong g&t and Abby a milkshake – but we could have had cocktails, wine, WINGS, mac & cheese, salads, a whole variety of popcorn flavours – so much stuff! Even whilst the movie is on you can write down what you want and pop it up in front of you and someone comes along and takes it. We saw Wonder Woman which I really enjoyed (maybe it was the gin) but they do other theme nights – like the night before had been a Dirty Dancing SING-A-LONG NIGHT like literally they were doing themed drinks (watermelon obv) and encouraged everyone to sing along or speak along with it… Literally amazing.

We spent the next couple of days looking around Austin – walking about in ridiculously hot sun – seeing some really cool neighbourhoods- there was one street that was just a bunch of amazing bars that all looked like someone’s house and you sit in their garden! We also went with the hostel one night to Blues on the Green. It’s a free music festival held once a month during the summer in the evening. You can bring beer and sit on the grass. There were literally thousands and thousands of people there, it was amazing.

Exploring

Continued

Realising we’d taken a long sunny route

Oh dear

Found the ice tea and cupcakes though

Sunset rooftop pool

Austin at night

Next stop was a fleeting visit through Houston. Not a whole lot to report- we went to a lovely cocktail bar, stayed in a lovely hostel in a great area (literally a beautiful residential neighbourhood) and found my FAVOURITE supermarket in the US. I know that doesn’t sound all that exciting but honestly, supermarkets out here are literally appalling. They either have zero fresh anything and just sell cans or snacks or they are a fancy pancy vegan paleo gluten free extreme ridiculousness market that sells ONLY organic stuff at extortionate prices – so I was fairly excited by a regular supermarket where we could buy NORMAL THINGS! – including Marmite and Ribena, that I sadly resisted. Also our trip was my first Megabus experience in a while – I had taken a Megabus from DC back to Chapel Hill a while back and it was FULLY HORRIBLE but they made it up this time, just. Although I genuinely think Greyhound is way better… they get such a bad rep!

Obama wall

Sun setting in Houston

We flew out of Houston very early (VERY EARLY) the next morning to New Orleans. Another Southwest flight, which I love. We got to New Orleans at maybe 8:30am and took a couple of long buses into the centre – we were staying in a hostel in the French Quarter. The outskirts of New Orleans looked like literally every other town in the US – lots and lots of chains and big roads and not much else. But the French Quarter is beautiful – narrow streets and lots of lovely balconies and steel railings and music literally everywhere. We got breakfast in the Music Legends Park – there was a small square with a cafe and a live band – at 10am on a Saturday morning! We spent the day looking around the French Quarter- went to the French Market which sold things like alligator on a stick and catfish to voodoo dolls, jalapeno pineapple jam, gumbo and pecan praline – a New Orleans special which tastes like really sugary fudge with a bunch of pecans in.

That evening we headed out to Bourbon St, which is this fairly gross street with lots of bars on that always smells totally rank (all day every day apparently). We tried the New Orleans special – the hurricane which is made up of rum and its totally and utterly disgusting, it’s so sweet and tastes like maraschino cherries pureed and poured over half a bottle of rum before heading across the street to the DUELING PIANO BAR which I thoroughly enjoyed – 80’s hits and classics all requested songs that the pianists JUST KNEW how to play. It was pretty cool.

At this point Abby is going to write about what she thought of New Orleans which is super exciting (not just because it means I can write less teehee). I’m going to figure out how to make her bit look different HOLD ON HERE…….

So we arrived in New Orleans at about 8am after getting up to catch the flight from Houston at 4am, it was pretty early for us. After dropping off our bags we decided to wander a little, look about, and we stumbled across this really sweet little courtyard with a cafe, bar and outdoor tables. Despite being only about 10am at this point, there was a little jazz band playing – it felt very ‘New Orleans’.

After that our day generally consisted of the same, pottering about French quarter. New Orleans is so incredibly cool. We spend hours, tiredly walking about and still managed to love it. The little streets were full of art galleries, antique shops and bits and bobs and one street was even closed off so that artists could come set up shop and play in the afternoon. 

The building and the streets are gorgeous, they all looked just as they did in the films and television, just how New Orleans should – we couldn’t take enough photos of balconies and hanging ferns. In Jackson Square we stumbled upon a great Jazz band bustling, complete with Tuba – the atmosphere was incredible!

The next day we got up for our walking tour. It was very hot, very humid, vaguely unmanageable but manage we did and we even got there early. This walking tour was great, our guide told us so much fascinating history like, for example, that due to the education provided to women by nuns in the city, in the 1830s, free women of colour made up the largest class which owned their own business! Our guide called the city one of the few matriarchal places in the country at that time as this education was provided for men so only the rich few could afford that, whereas the women thrived – it all sounds very exciting. Anyway, so we pottered about some more, learning about the different developments of architecture from the French and Spanish colonisers, it was a very interesting tour.

Later on, we had a look at the Hurricane exhibit in one of the main museums. It had a big section on Katrina of course, which was incredibly interesting but also obviously very sobering, I couldn’t get over the fact that it was so recent and had such an impact. There was a large section on how the communities came together to rebuild their homes and retain their culture, very moving.

Sticking to the tourist activities we headed to Cafe du Monde later on and got some beignets – tasty but far too much icing sugar! (Katie told me off for trying to brush some off). Also pottered along the river and saw the holocaust memorial which is basically a bunch of panels with some patterns on that all look different from different angles, representing different aspects of the Holocaust I believe.

Later still we headed to Frenchmen’s Street which is famous for live bands. We settled into one place after struggling to choose for a while (too much choice New Orleans!) and watched this great band do sort of synthy funk (I’m 100% guessing here), complete with keyboard and trumpet solos. It was very enjoyable, the band leader kept finished each song saying ‘yes indeed, yes indeed’ in a proper Louisiana accent which was great – I even had a little dance and we bought their CD. Everyone who we saw performing seemed to be from New Orleans which was very cool also, supporting local artists and such.

The next day we set off to the WWII Museum which is boasted best in New Orleans and 4th best in the country! It was a very impressive museum to be fair to them, the time flew by. Alongside all the in-depth exhibits which were particularly interesting as from a US perspective so not one we were so used to, they gave us each an interactive card which was our ‘dogtag’. With that we were linked up the story of one particular person and through the exhibits we could check in on machines to see where they were and what they were up to at the time – we could even keep the cards and look back on the website when we got home! Whole new level of museum if you ask me.

After that we pottered on to the Garden District which was basically founded I think by rich Europeans coming over after French Quarter was taken over by Americans after the independence. The Garden District has some of the most incredible houses I’ve ever seen, all verandas and balconies and such – entirely gorgeous.

Overall, I absolutely LOVED New Orleans. I think this may be because, in a sort of European way, it’s set up (at least in the Centre) so that everything’s near each other will just small streets between, unlike the usual massively spread out cities I’d seen in Texas. The atmosphere is so great, you can hear different live music about every 10 metres. Despite being a proper party city with people carrying about huge plastic cups and bowls of cocktails from about 11am, and smelling *questionable* to say the least in some areas, it wasn’t rowdy and unpleasant, it was really lovely to walk around. I think I’m a bit obsessed, I won’t lie to you, and this is even without being old enough to do the classic Saturday night drinking on Bourbon Street!

Bourbon St

Muffuletta – a New Orleans speciality – basically a VERY stuffed sandwich

Abby + beignet

Warehouse District

Garden District

Abby in the Garden (District)

Streetcar from Garden District to French Quarter!

Beignets!!

MEMPHIS! After another 4 hour train journey – less relaxing this time BUT we did discover there are FOOT RESTS you can pull up so it was intensely comfortable (I think we were just more bored) – we arrived into our penultimate city. The hostel we’re staying at is a church, sort of. It’s run by the church and we’re in the building next to it. But it seems really great so far – they leave out pancake mix for you to make your own pancakes in the morning and that’s a big win from me.

Today Abby and I explored Memphis. We went on a sweaty bus ride – it’s really not that hot but it’s still so humid, I was wearing jeans and unexpectedly warm… Our first stop was Sun Studio – the studio where Elvis was first recorded by Sam Phillips. It’s only about 3 rooms but they do tours and our tour guide was great- super informative and funny. I didn’t know a whole lot about Sun Studio or Elvis for that matter so it was really interesting. It’s also the place that Johnny Cash recorded for the first time and where Jerry Lee Lewis recorded Great Balls of Fire (which then Abby and I had stuck in our head for the rest of the day). They even had one microphone left which Elvis had used – one of the old school silver ones – it doesn’t work anymore though sadly, although the recording studio itself is still in use.

Before a quick Cuban lunch we popped into the Peabody Hotel. So back in March the Final Four for the basketball was held in Memphis and there was a video we all saw of Roy Williams, the head basketball coach at UNC, herding some ducks down a red carpet. It was pretty random at the time but apparently it’s almost a century-long tradition at the Peabody Hotel after a couple of ducks were taken from the hunt and put in the fountain in the middle of the hotel. Nowadays at 11am and 5pm the ducks are still marched down a red carpet… and they live in the water fountain during the day and go home to a nearby farm at night. It’s incredibly random. Anyway…

After lunch we walked down a (very quiet) Main St towards the National Civil Rights Museum. The museum is in the actual building that once was the Lorraine motel, where Martin Luther King Jr was killed. There were fascinating photos capturing the civil rights movements in the 60’s and then lots of amazing exhibits documenting African American history – from slavery to the Civil War, to Martin Luther King Jr to the African influences in American culture today. It was very sad but incredibly interesting – especially as they have set up the motel room where MLK stayed so it looks exactly how it looked when he died. It makes you realise just how recent all of this was – segregation was only ruled as unconstitutional in 1953 – but segregation continued across the south for a couple of decades after that.

As we left the museum the tropical storm arrived. I had my trusty UNC raincoat – Abby got wet. Teehee. We headed to the Bass Pro Pyramid, an utterly RIDICULOUS place – it’s basically a shopping centre for outdoors-y stuff, so, guns, fishing stuff, hunting stuff, clothing, BOATS. But the whole place has been turned into this weird themed place – there are stuffed animals everywhere and ponds and weird fake trees just about everywhere you look. Fake trees! You can even get in the weird neon lift and see the view from the top of the pyramid (we didn’t – it was really grim rain at this point!). We headed back to our hostel & went for some incredibly tasty pizza and watched a bit of the NBA draft – which I really didn’t understand at the beginning but now I have some strong thoughts on the Sacramento team.

Ducks in the Peabody hotel fountain!

Lorraine motel – how it looked when MLK was shot on that 2nd floor balcony

Soggy

Paradise……….

Our ‘historically hip’ neighbourhood

Anyway! This has been INCREDIBLY long, congratulations for making it until the end. I only have a week left in the US now. It’ll be lovely to get home but I’m going to miss it an awful lot.

Lots of love!

Katie (& Abby!) xxx

  Texas to Louisiana to Mississippi to Tennesee (feat. Abby!) Hello! I've skipped a couple weeks to last week - Abby has arrived and we're in Texas.